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OBSERVATIONS 



OF A 



TRAVELER. 



LOUIS 'LOMBARD. 

Author of "Observations of a Musician, 

"Juliet," a comic opera, and DiRECTQ^ftJrMyiQp^nli^ 
Conservatory of M.\^q^^ o^^GfiT 



JUL 2 1894^^ 
5/« /^ ^ 



Wt[ei[ or\e goes fortl; a-Voyagir\g, 
Be t\as a tale to tell." 



TJTICA, N. Y. 

Louis Lombard, Publisher. 

1894. 



-=~*3s^g^ 






Copyright, 1894, by Louis Lombard. 



Printed and Bound bv 
L. C. Childs & Son, Utica, N. Y. 



To 

ROSE ELIZABETH CLEYELHND. 

Iri proof of frier^dstiip ar\d 

adn\iratioi\. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

SAVOIR-VIVRE, 

Men rather than Things. — National Idiosyncra- 
ries. — Other Days, Other Customs. — Travel, 
an Educator. — Snobs. — The Advantages of 
American Citizenship, .... 9 

CHAPTER II. 

LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. 

Sea-Sickness. Liverpool. — Chester. Shakes- 
peare's Home. — Charlecoate. — Warwick Cas- 
tle. — British Hospitality, . . . 2r 

CHAPTER III. 

LONDON THROUGH FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 

English Antipathy toward Americans. — Fogs. — 
Qnart-de-Monde. — Vice, Puritanism, and Hy- 
pocrisy. — The Vastness of London. — Enter- 
tainments. — The Tower. — A Sunday After- 
noon, 33 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER IV. 

IMPRESSIONS OF HOLLAND. 

Impoliteness of the People. — Their Love of Clean- 
liness. — Analogies between Dutch and Ger- 
man. — Ludicrous Head-Gear. — Tulipomania, 

55 
CHAPTER V. 

DUELLING. 

A Challenge. — Fencing. — The Absurdity of Duel- 
ling, 64 

CHAPTER VI. 

ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 

Novel Scenes. — Bull-Fighting. —Living on Thirty- 
five Cents a Day. — Andalusian Girls. — Charac- 
teristics. — How to Travel in Spain, . 75 

CHAPTER VII. 

REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 

A Thrilling History. — The Error of France. — My 
Foolish Fears. — Venice. — Milan. — Genoa. — 
Interviewed Concerning the New Orleans 
Lynching. — Florence. — Rome. — Naples, 92 

CHAPTER VIII. 

PORT SAID AND JOPPA. 

The Suez Canal. — Dirty Natives. — The Maroon 
Church. — The Danse du Ventre. — The Seaport 
of Palestine. — Horse-back ride to Jerusa- 
lem, 129 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER IX. 

THE MODERN PALESTINE. 

A Desolate Country. — Jerusalem. — Filthy Scenes. 
— Superstitions. — The Jews' Wailing-Place. — 
Urbanity Won by Subterfuge. — Over-Cour 
teous Merchants. — Indigent Pilgrims. — Living 
in Convents. — An American Colony. — Beg- 
gars. — Mar Saba. — Sodom.— A Bath in the 
Dead Sea. — The Jordan. — The Future of the 
Holy Land, , 140 

CHAPTER X. 

FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. 

The Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. — The Black 
Sea. — Stopping the Steamer to Dine. — Thirty- 
six Hours of Storm. — A Glimpse of Bulga- 
ria. — Unusual Diflficulties across the Danube. — 
Bucharest, 168 

CHAPTER XL 

INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 

The Influence of a Trunk. — Codfish Aristocracy. — 
Dishonest Courier and Store-keeper. — Hunga- 
rian Hate of Germans. — An Unfortunate Re- 
mark. — The Ignorance of Europeans regard- 
ing America. — Linguistic Blunders, . 184 

CHAPTER XII. 

HAPPINESS VERSUS TRAVEL. 

Refining influences. — Diversity of Experiences. — 
Disappointment 202 



PREFACE. 



In the hot haste of modern sight-see- 
ing, these observations were inscribed 
upon hotel receipts, cuffs, backs of en- 
velopes, and edges of newspapers, while 
the writing-desk was a camel's neck, the 
back of a seat in a diligence, or some- 
times, Arab-fashion, my left hand. 
Therefore, it is hoped that the reader 
may not expect these jottings to be either 
exhaustive, or coherent. 



^^^^^ ^^^«.<«^-*,X^ 



Utica, N. Y., June 15, 1894. 



CHAPTER I. 

SAVOIR-VIVRE. 

Humanity is so much more interesting 
than architecture and natural scenery 
that a narrator of travels might muse 
about men, at least, as much as about 
things. Of course, there is nothing new 
to be read in the human heart, whether 
it beat under the torrid zone or in the 
Esquimau hut. The same principles 
underlie all races, and selfishness, smooth- 
ened by more or less urbanity, "makes 
all the world kin." 

Customs are good or bad only accord- 
ing to our view-point. Our opinion may 
be diametrically opposed to that of those 
to the other manner born, but opinions 
do not alter facts. Intrinsically, the 
practice remains the same whether we 
call it coarse or refined, for things are not 
what they are so much as what they seem. 



lO OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

While traveling, one cannot remove 
the epidermis of race, surroundings, 
education, — prolific breeder of prejudice. 
We cannot enthuse over the bull fight if 
we are Americans any more than we can 
enjoy dog-fights if we are Spaniards. 
The bitter English ale is nauseating to 
the Italian, and the glass of Munich beer 
filled with lumps of ice, as served in Spain, 
is far from inviting to the German. The 
Mohammedans keep the hat on and take 
off the shoes as a mark of respect ; we do 
the opposite. We write from left to 
right : they, from right to left. Moham- 
medan girls are often married in their 
tenth year; they are separated from all 
men but their husband through life. 
Even after their death, they do not min- 
gle with the sterner sex ; one side is set 
apart in the family vault exclusively for 
the women. Some cannibals cannot 
show greater veneration for their ances- 
tors than by eating their corpses, sauce 



SAVOIR-VIVRE. I I 

filliale, as it were. The Dutch are the 
cleanest people in Europe, and yet I found 
them to be the most impolite. The 
Frenchman, reputed to be very courteous, 
does and says things that would shock 
the Japanese young woman who takes a 
piece of paper in lieu of a handkerchief, 
which she throws in the middle of the 
street after using. The American, who 
requires a cuspidor in every apartment of 
his house, thinks the Polish artist ill-bred, 
who eats with his knife. After this brief 
enumeration of national idiosyncracies, 
one may justly conclude that there is not 
much that is inherently good in the cus- 
toms of any country if we except those 
social forms born purely from goodness 
of heart. 

Etiquette varies not only in different 
countries, but also in the same country at 
different epochs ; other days, other 
morals. The manners of gentlemen, how- 
ever, differ only on the surface. Herr, 



I 2 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

inonsieicr, signor, senhor, senor, kha- 
wageh, or sir, means precisely the same 
thing : a gentleman. 

Being contemporaneous with the ele- 
vated road and the pneumatic tube we 
cannot have the measured step of the 
scented and powdered wig-wearer of the 
eighteenth century. We dance the wild 
galop, not the dignified minuet. And 
yet, even with all their vaunted dignity 
and civility, our forefathers were not 
always above reproach, or it would not 
have been necessary to forbid expectorat- 
ing into the pocket of a neighbor, or 
combing one's hair at church — which pre- 
monitions appear in an old French book 
on etiquette. But it may be well not to 
say too much about the peculiarities 
of others because ''those who live in glass 
houses," etc. 

Although traveling cannot eliminate all 
prejudice, it no doubt broadens the mind 
more than any other agency, provided 



SAVOIR-VIVRE. 13 

one travel with the eyes open, and one 
be not too much influenced by guide- 
books and couriers : these monumental 
liars. 

After seeing many countries I have 
concluded that the United States, not- 
withstanding their many shortcomings, 
are yet the most wonderful nation. 
History reminds Europeans that they 
were already rich with the spoils of count- 
less conquests and the accumulated efforts 
of twenty generations at the time when, 
in chill penury, this baby government 
first saw the light of day. During the 
past century the dauntless American spirit 
made wealth, peace, and liberty, while 
obliterating King George's and Dixie's 
slavery. This country's achievements are 
the greatest of modern times. No one 
untainted by national prejudices can fail 
to see the advantageous substructure of 
American citizenship. 

Yet, while traveling in Europe, I have 



14 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

met manystrange types of Americans— men 
and women imbued with the European dis- 
dain of things Yankee. They affect foreign 
tastes, manners, and expressions. Their 
mongrel accent distinguishes them. Their 
phraseology divulges its own unnatural- 
ness. After having been abroad a short 
time they cease going to stores — shops, if 
you please. When traveling they only 
take luggage — no more baggage, nor sat- 
chel, nor hand-bag: only porte-manteaux, 
porte-monnaie. They would prefer to 
miss a good dinner than to ask a waiter 
for the bill of fare instead of 7nenu. They 
pretend to love and appreciate all the arts. 
Heavenly beatitude invades their soul if 
a daub be shown them as a work of 
Rafaelle or Tiziano.. The hallucinations 
of jin-de-siecle musicians are the only 
sounds their ears can bear. Such Ameri- 
cans are the laughing stock of their 
countrymen and a living source of scorn 



SAVOIR-VIVRE. 1 5 

to the rest of mankind ! The highest 
comphment you can pay to one of them 
is : ' * No one would take you for an 
American." 

I pity the foreigner who draws errone- 
ous conclusions unfavorable to this country 
and who rejects Americanisms with con- 
tempt. He has at least the love of his 
native land to atone for his stupidity. I 
loathe the American who copies foreign 
manners and echoes ideas and opinions 
tinged with European prejudices. He is 
a snob of the purest water and should be 
taught that simplicity and grace are the 
antitheses of vulgarity and affectation. 

Among educated Americans there is no 
need of Europe's refining influences out- 
side of the fine arts. No American can 
be ashamed of his national traits. Let 
him always lift his forehead high among 
the effete products of eastern civilization 
and fogyism and thereby enhance the 
prestige of his nationality in the minds of 



1 6 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

all men. The nearest approach to model 
citizenship has been made, in our century, 
on this side of the ocean, and he who can 
call himself a citizen of the United States 
can well afford to go about the world 
with his own characteristics and the par- 
donable pride of his nation's achievements. 



CHAPTER II. 

LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. 
I. 

It may be that the cooking on board 
was excellent, but no one could prove 
this by me. Although the passage was a 
royal one, the sea as smooth as a mirror, 
I was more occupied doing politenesses 
to the fish than digesting. During the last 
voyage to England I ate only two meals 
and each consisted of corn bread and 
Apollinaris. 

I know precisely eighty-nine infallible 
cures for sea-sickness, and I have tried 
them all. This may perhaps account for 
my being such a poor sailor. I have zig- 
zaged every sea in Europe and some in 
Africa, and Asia, sailed repeatedly along 
the coast of the Atlantic, and crossed 
that ocean nine times, yet many kind 
persons try to console me with the theory 



I 8 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

that it is only a matter of crossing often 
enough in order to get rid of sea-sick- 
ness. ' ' You will not be sick the next 
time," is heard on every side. But 
when I recollect how ill at ease I felt 
last summer on an inland canal, I 
brush aside this doctrine with ineffable 
contempt. I have been seasick even on 
land. From the time I secure my ticket 
for a sea-trip I am nauseated. 

When entering the port of Liverpool one 
is reminded of that of Boston by contrast. 
In Boston the quays are only fit for land- 
ing fish, while in Liverpool they resemble 
a Roman aquarium on a magnificent scale. 
If the docks of Liverpool are the best in 
existence, the streets are not. They 
suggest those of the Hub ; the same filth 
and tortuousness characterize the business 
thoroughfares of both cities. 

I asked the porter of the North West- 
ern Hotel where I could hear some good 
music, and he recommended Music Hall. 



LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. I 9 

I should have known better than to ask 
him. He no doubt spoke honestly when 
advising me to go to a place which Vv^ouid 
have answered his heart's demands. I 
must confess that it fell short of my own 
ideal concert hall. Music Hall ! The 
name was alluring. But what is in a 
name ? The lowest Bowery resort would 
put the Liverpool Music Hall to shame. 
A loathsome crowd filled the place, and 
the performance was in perfect tune with 
the grimy audience. I bid an eternal 
adieu to my sixpence, and immediately 
elbowed my way out into the scented air 
of the adjacent streets — into an atmos- 
phere laden with the tangible aroma of 
rancid potatoes and stale beer. 

The difference in the size of half 
crowns and two shilling pieces is hardly 
perceptible, though half crowns are worth 
sixpence more. I found this out after 
having cheated myself several times. 

Little boys and girls harass pedestri- 



20 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

ans with: ''Matches, sir! 'Alf penny, sir. " 
They never let go until you buy. A waif 
followed me while saying in a tearful 
voice : ' ' My father was 'urt on the rail- 
way — matches, sir ! My mother is sick at 
home — matches, sir ! I am 'ungry — 
matches, sir!" The haggard look on her 
pale and pinched face advocated her cause 
in expressions still more touching. Where 
could one better invest a '''alf penny .?" 
There is more misery in Liverpool than 
over-fed Americans can conceive. 

II. 

Chester is an interesting spot. Of it 
Hawthorne has said: "The finest old 
English village I have seen." And, in- 
deed, it is beautiful and thoroughly charac- 
teristic, with its quaint, little old houses, 
the front of which are carved in multitud- 
inous designs. Some of these queer struc- 
tures date back to the ninth century. Many 
were once occupied by kings and queens. 



LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. .21 

Then they were called palaces ; to-day, 
shops, since they shelter prosaic beings, 
such as shoemakers, beer dealers, and 
the like. 

The narrow streets of Chester, with 
rows of stores, above and below, present 
a unique aspect. You can v/alk through 
the principal parts of the town under a 
kind of arcade, not, however, as beautiful 
as that of the Rue de Rivoli but, in its 
way, fully as attractive. 

With its imposing Norm.an Cathedral, 
its ancient towers, its crooked, mysteri- 
ous, and low-roofed ins and outs, Chester 
presents a true picture of ''Auld Eng- 
land." I must not forget the dilapidated 
''Mill on the Dee," which stands just 
outside of the city walls, near the castle 
now used as a garrison. I walked two 
miles around the city, the whole distance 
on the celebrated walls built by the Ro- 
mans. From these one can see the most 
striking points of Chester. 



22 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

The hireling, who piloted me for two 
shillings, pointed out Gladstone's country 
seat ; the Duke of Westminster's palace, 
called Eaton Hall ; the tower of St. 
George, whence, in 1605, King Charles 
saw his army defeated ; the Providence 
House, thus named because during a fear- 
ful- plague, the only family that survived 
lived in that house. 

My worthy mentor also showed me the 
best brewery in Chester. There, at my 
expense, and with unequivocal gusto, he 
drank a glass of ale. From that moment 
he kept on pointing out other best brew- 
eries, but with no avail. 

I am staying at the Grosvenor, not a 
large, but a charming hotel. Its spacious 
hails, with their tasteful tapestr}^, and the 
tidy arrangement of everything about the 
place, bespeak refinement. The service 
is good ; the cooking abominable. The 
bread ? Pugh ! A mass of dough. I long 
for France, where one invariably eats 
good things. 



LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. 23 

III. 

Stratford-on~Avon, the birth place of 
Shakespeare, is a Hfeless town of 9,000 
inhabitants. It is visited by two Ameri- 
cans to one EngHshman. A beautiful 
fountain, the gift of Mr, George W. 
Childs, of Philadelphia, stands in the 
centre of the village as a symbol of Amer- 
ica's admiration. Here after eight in the 
evening, every body goes to sleep except, 
of course, those troubled with insomnia. 

The room in which the Prince of Dra- 
matists was born is a narrow and dismal 
garret, fit for a Russian serf. In the 
house, however, kings and queens have 
come to do homage to Shakespeare. 
Glorious names fill the ponderous visitors' 
book. To do as every one does, I sat in 
the corner of the big chimney where 
Shakespeare was wont to sit. How 
could my meditations but be profound in 
such a spot I As to their being fruitful 
— the less said, the better. I am not sus- 
ceptible to unconscious cerebration. 



24 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

The school desk upon which the author 
of ' ' Hamlet " learned to read and write 
is a big maltreated thing resembling an 
old ash box. From its hacked appear- 
ance one would infer that young Shakes- 
peare busied himself with his pocket 
knife more than with his quill, were this 
table the only relic. 

Being less poetical than Washington 
Irving, who once wrote that, having seen 
the place of Shakespeare's birth, he would 
not seek in vain that of his death, I 
visited the pretty garden in which stood 
the house wherein he spent the last nine- 
teen years of his life. 

The same mulberry tree that shaded 
the window of his library still extends its 
verdant arms. What draughts of divine 
inspiration were drunk under its foliage ! 

The beautiful Memorial Theatre stands 
within a stone's throw of the church in 
which Shakespeare is buried. Emblems 
of immortal spirit and mortal clay, placed 



LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. 25 

side by side. A plain slab covers the ashes 
of the poet. It is said that his remains were 
not transferred to Westminster owing to 
the following epitaph which is engraved 
over his tomb : 

"Good frend, for Jesus's sake forbeare, 
To digg the dust encloased heare ; 
Bleste be ye man that spares these stones, 
And curst be he that moves my bones." 

A bust placed against the wall by the 
side of the grave is regarded as an excel- 
lent likeness. The face is fuller than in 
all the other busts or pictures I have seen ; 
it is the physiognomy of the jovial com- 
panion rather than that of the book- worm. 

The quaint figures under the benches in 
the chapel are worth seeing. The monks 
who carved them had as strange a notion 
of artistic design as those sculptors who 
were employed upon the Cathedral at 
Strasburg. I do not recommend these 
interesting images to those who place 
* ' trousers on the legs of the piano. " 

B 



26 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

We all know that Shakespeare often 
drank one too many, and that he 
wantonly shot a deer in Charlecoate, 
but what of that ? Many other geniuses 
have led a life not wholly blameless. 
In its uncontrollable gratitude for the 
scientific discoveries, the beautiful im- 
ages, or the intellectual impetus it re- 
ceives from geniuses, the world forgives and 
forgets the sins of these mental giants. 

In ethics, politics, history, religion, 
philosophy, literature, art, in a word, in 
anything that is or that may be imagined, 
Shakespeare may be consulted. He is the 
universal book of reference. It is puerile 
to write his praises. In fact, to admire that 
which the concensus of opinion admires 
may be regarded as vanity. Xenophon 
said : ' ' He is wise who knows what is 
wise," and some critics, knowing this, 
applaud every celebrated name without 
investigating the cause of its celebrity. 
They know it looks well to be in touch 



LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. 2/ 

with the great : by praising them, they 
expect, at least, to show that they keep 
good company. 

One, however, does not need to do this 
regarding Shakespeare. His genius is so 
overpowering that nothing but sincerity is 
brought forth. The critic enthuses be- 
cause he cannot do otherwise. 

Homer sang grand songs. Dante, with 
his sad, solemn, awful thoughts, moved 
men profoundly. Milton beheld visions 
never before seen. Cervantes, Goethe, 
Victor Hugo, all wrote with burning 
words. But greater than all combined 
was Shakespeare — the supreme inter- 
preter of human nature ! 



IV. 



On a perfect October afternoon, on one 
of those peaceful days when temperature, 
atmosphere, and sky are as in June, and 
the falling leaves seem to be the sole 



28 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

precursors of winter, I rode out of Strat- 
ford through the estate of Charle- 
coate. As I passed, many deer came near 
the road to gaze curiously at me with 
their large, limpid eyes ; while frightened 
hares, numerous as flies, hastily disap- 
peared into their holes. I am on the 
way to Warwick, the county town of 
Warwickshire. The phaeton stops before 
an inn, and the driver asks if I care to 
rest an instant. This results to him 
in a glass of beer, as he expected. 

Warwick Castle, with its imposing walls 
and priceless treasures, with its blood- 
curdling legends which generation has 
whispered to generation by the fireside of 
every English home, Warwick Castle, with 
all its grandeur of size and its historical 
associations, does not appear so magnifi- 
cent when one has just come from the 
humble house of Shakespeare. This 
grows larger and nobler in the imagina- 
tion until it overshadows even the grand- 
est feudal mansions of England. 



LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. 29 

The situation of the castle overhang- 
ing the Avon is picturesque. With its 
Caesar's Tower, its Gateway Tower, and 
its Guy's Tower, each rising over one hun- 
dred feet, this historic abode of England's 
most famous earls, makes a sublime im- 
pression. 

As early as the year 50, a fortress was 
built on this site by P. Octavius Scapula. 
It was torn down by the Danes, and in 
915 Ethelfieda, daughter of Alfred, built 
the fortress on which stands the present 
castle. 

Guy, the most famous of the earls of 
Warwick, is brought at once to one's rec- 
ollection. Symbols of his powers and 
prowess still remain to startle the visitor, 
in the forms of a mammoth helmet, a 
furnace-like pot, and a monstrous fork, — 
objects which he used daily with ease, 
and which would have been large enough 
for Swift's king of Brobdingnag. 

One morning I took the tramway to 



30 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

Leamington, which is about two miles 
distant. It is a pretty watering-place, 
called the Royal Spa. At a music store 
I was informed that the best pianos ob- 
tainable in England were made in Ame- 
rica, but that there was little demand for 
them, because the nobility itself could not 
afford to pay the price asked for such in- 
struments. "Why," said the dealer, 
''here is an excellent German Grand, the 
best piano in our house ; we sell this for 
eighty guineas, and the very 'gentry' re- 
quire at least three years' time to pay for 
it." 



V. 



British hospitality ! What sweet re- 
membrances the mere word evokes ! 
Without the perfect French courteous- 
ness, the obsequious Spanish politeness, 
or the good-natured American simplicity, 
your English friend takes you straight to 
his bosom, as if you were his own son. 



LOITERINGS IN ENGLAND. 3 I 

For you, his house assumes its most joy- 
ous aspects, his wife smiles her brightest 
smiles, his daughters wear their prettiest 
gowns. For your entertainment, his wo- 
men acquaintances play and sing, and his 
chums challenge you to a friendly tilt at 
billiards. Rare game is served, old bot- 
tles are uncorked, and the aromatic punch 
bowl scents the halls, — all this and much 
more, for you alone. 

Fie was difficult to approach, this stern 
and rugged Englishman of sixty : 

" With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut," 
but from the day I gained his confidence 
his great heart radiated the warmest rays 
of friendship. He did not inquire how 
much I was worth, except in character ; 
nor did he ask what my talents were. 
Richer and wiser than I, he could gain 
nothing from my companionship ; yet, at 
his table, my chair was distinguished by a 
silken kuffiyek, and at all hours my every 
wish was anticipated. No more could 
have been done had I been a prince ! 



32 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

It is, indeed, well worth one's while to 
probe into the haughty and apparently 
cold heart : as snow-capped Vesuvius, it 
is aglow with fire beneath its calm. 



CHAPTER III. 

LONDON THROUGH FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 



Now, in London, in the greatest me- 
tropolis of the world, — greatest, of course, 
merely as to size and wealth, for as re- 
gards beauty, gaiety, art, and general 
culture, no Frenchman would compare it 
to Paris. 

I am about to say some things that 
will displease English people, and par- 
ticularly Anglomaniacs, but I shall give 
my honest opinion. Speakers and writ- 
ers in England do not hesitate to express 
their views about the United States, 
however unfavorable these be. We 
should think ourselves fortunate if they 
do not distort or even invent facts solely 
for the fun of giving us a dig. Being 
an American citizen born in France, I 



34 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

may be prejudiced by the burning of Joan 
of Arc, the exile of Bonaparte, the war for 
American independence, and that of 1812. 
Remembering also the attitude of Eng- 
land during our war with the South, and 
more recently, during the Chilean im- 
broglio, my pen may dip unconsciously 
into gall. Should it do so I cannot help 
it. I have merely tried to record the im- 
pressions as they came to me. 

The oftener I go to London, the more 
I like Paris. And am I unreasonable } 
It is now noon. A dense fog fills the 
streets, and coal smoke, black as tar, 
reaches into the inmost recesses of dwell- 
ings. This insidious soot defaces the 
buildings and augments the cost of artifi- 
cial light. You must light the gas in the 
middle of the day. To cross the street 
you grope about as if blind. Your ' 'cab- 
by " walks alongside of his horse, carefully 
leading him by the bit. Think of a 
smoke-producing area covering more than 



LONDON THRO FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 35 

one hundred square miles, within which, 
during the winter months, forty thousand 
tons of coal add daily to the thickness of a 
dark and deadly veil which hides the sun 
and then descends upon the city as a poi- 
sonous mass of hellish darkness. Can 
this atmosphere be wholesome to flesh or 
spirit } It is a natural inference that it 
can do no good to the soul, though one 
may have no specific statistics upon this 
point. Too much smoke undoubtedl}^ re- 
presses aesthetic tendencies, and oppresses 
the moral and mental nature of man. To 
prove its deleterious effect upon the body, 
it need only to be said that, one year, 
official reports gave asthma an increase 
of 220 per cent, and bronchitis 331 per 
cent. In one week the death rate, owing 
to the dense fogs, rose from 271 in the 
previous week to 353, diseases of the 
respiratory organs rising to 994 ! Dust 
of carbon is an easy vehicle both for nox- 
ious gases and orgamic impurities. The 



2,6 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

fogs of London, no doubt, induce con- 
sumption of the lungs of an incurable 
kind. 

II. 

In the evening, on some leading 
thoroughfares, an unending cavalcade of 
women of the demi-monde, nay, of the 
quart-de-monde, crowds the side-walks. 
Painted and withered faces, where the claws 
of lust, alcohol, hunger, and disease have 
left their ineffaceable scars, and from 
which has fled forever that sweetest 
charm of womanhood, modesty. Dolo- 
rous souls, more horrible than the pencil 
of Dore drew, or the pen of Dante de- 
scribed, flaunt their nauseous wares in 
the face of the world as hooks with pu- 
trid bait. If this be civilization what is 
barbarism } Of all the awful sights — and 
Marseilles, Naples, Jerusalem, Constan- 
tinople have some frightful ones — Regent 
street after sundown is the most awful. 
Guarda e passa ! 



LONDON thro' FRANCO- AMERICAN EYES. 37 

Since all agree that this state of affairs 
exists and is a necessary evil, why not 
keep these women under police and med- 
ical control, as in France ? To refuse to 
recognize the existence of a moral leper 
is no wiser than to wilfully ignore a phys- 
ical one. Were it not better to confine 
her where she can do the least harm ? If 
ignorance foster vice, what will not the 
avowed indifference of the state do ? 
When virtuous mothers, wives, and sis- 
ters will realize the perils that surround 
their hearth, they will, perhaps, compel 
statesmen to stop their Tartuffe-like poli- 
cy. Vice within proper bounds may be- 
come an efficient guardian of virtue ; al- 
lowed to go rampant it contaminates its 
whole environment. 

This false modesty, which covers its 
eyes and looks between its fingers, is the 
offspring of a narrow, hypocritical spirit, 
v/hich, from the time of the Puritans, has 
fettered English-speaking races. Cus- 



38 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

toms, religion, jurisprudence, politics, lit- 
erature, art, all breathe its stifling atmos- 
phere. But — I would better dismiss this 
theme, owing to the indelicacy of plain 
words in English. By the way, to ob- 
serve the avidity with which English 
readers devour Zola's and similar works 
when in French, and to see those foot- 
notes in French, in editions of English 
books in which obscenities are told, one 
would believe that the ability to read 
French is synonymous with low morals 
or that the mind of one who reads French 
is beyond further contamination. What 
think you "^ 



III. 



There are millions of charming persons 
in England, but, unfortunately, the trav- 
eler is not always made aware of 
their existence. I would like to speak 
of some conceited and overbearing 
Englishmen I have met, but I will simply 



LONDON THRO FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 39 

quote from the London Truth. The fol- 
lowing paragraph seems to hit their case 
pat : * ' We English are by no means a 
lovable race. We have many admirable 
qualities. We are a hardy, practical, 
persevering people ; but these are not 
in themselves sympathetic properties. 
We are aggressive, self-assertive, purse- 
proud and hypocritical. We are apt to 
sing psalms and pick pockets at one and 
the same time, and our neighbors, not 
altogether unjustly, therefore, resent the 
over-righteous tone that we adopt in criti- 
cising them and their concerns, Where- 
ever the Englishman goes he has the fatal 
influence of spoiling even the most sim- 
ple of characters. A few British tourists 
will make the inhabitants of the most in- 
experienced province shrewd, suspicious, 
grasping and dishonest. This is within 
the common knowledge of any who have 
traveled in little visited lands, and a con- 
sideration of this phenomenon will enable 



40 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

US the better, perhaps, to understand 
why our neighbors, and more especially 
the French, so heartily detest us." 

IV. 

An idea of the vastness of the area of 
London may be had from the time it 
takes to get about town. I am at the 
Metropole, a large, comfortable, and beau- 
tiful hotel, though, of course, not so ele- 
gant as the Waldorf " in New York. The 
Metropole is not far from the centre of 
the city. One evening at 7.30 I wanted 
to go to the Crystal Palace. The cab 
started at once for a railway station, 
where I boarded a train. After a quick 
run I arrived on the grounds at 8:45, and 
fifteen minutes later I reached the palace. 
One hour and a half in transit through 
the city, and I had not lost one moment ! 

* As regards appointments, there is no hotel in 
Europe that approaches this sumptuous American 
hostelry, which might be more fitly named, a royal 
palace. 



LONDON THRO FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 4 1 
V. 

I was not repaid for my trouble. Negro 
minstrels and a female acrobat occupied 
the stage until 9:30 ; then — eternal un- 
fitness of things ! — an organ recital began. 
Although the latter part of the entertain- 
ment was common-place enough, yet it 
atoned for the vulgarity of the minstrel 
show. During a recent visit I had the 
good fortune to attend one of the famous 
Haydn and Haendel Triennal Festivals 
at which, in the immense Music Hall of 
the palace, I heard the finest choral work 
the world can produce. Three thousand 
singers picked from the best choirs and 
choral societies for which England is re- 
nowned, and a magnificent orchestra with 
celebrated vocal soloists — all under the 
unerring baton of Manns. Israel in 
Egypt and the Messiah were given as I 
shall never hear them again outside Great 
Britain, preeminently the home of the 
oratorio. 
c 



42 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

At Albert Hall I heard a very mixed 
programme. It was a concert by the 
Queen's Band of Scots Guards — an excel- 
lent organization — Mesdames Albani and 
Trebelli with Miss Trebelli and a 
pianist whose name, I am happy to 
say, I have forgotten. This combina- 
tion might seem incongruous enough, 
but the most unfit, unsuited, inap- 
propriate thing in this monstrous am- 
phitheatre was the performance of Bee- 
thoven's ^' Moonlight " piano sonata. 
From the centre of the orchestra chairs, 
not far from the stage, I could only hear, 
once in a while, a loud chord. The 
rest I had to imagine. What those who 
were in the distant galleries heard, or, 
rather, did not hear, is not difficult to 
surmise. This musical instrument, the 
pianoforte, unless played in the proper 
place, and by a great artist, may be easily 
turned into an instrument of torture. 

At Covent Garden, a very ugly opera 



LONDON THRO FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 43 

house, I saw the prettiest and most pi- 
quante Carmen, and the most ingenuous 
Marguerite conceivable. It was my friend, 
Zelie de Lussan, who for the past five years 
has maintained the reputation of being one 
the best prima donnas in England. And 
this is saying much, because, although 
the English cannot be called a musical 
people, they know how to attract the 
leading artists from everywhere. Indeed, 
London may truly be called the Mecca of 
musicians. While dining with Miss de 
Lussan I heard her say that, probably, she 
will never return to stay in America. 
Strange to record, she believes that good 
artists are underpaid there. 

In London, where her home is, 
she lives in excellent style with 
her father and mother. Surround- 
ed by friends and admirers, persons 
of influence and high social standing, 
petted and well paid by the whole public, 



44 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

what more can she desire ? She is, in ad- 
dition to all this, a prime favorite of the 
Queen, before whom she often sings 
privately. A short time ago Victoria 
sent her a photograph with her autograph. 
I do not wonder that this delightful songs- 
tress is universally admired. How could 
one see so beautiful a creature and hear 
so consummate an artist without admiring, 
yea, worshipping her. 

Everybody spends an evening at the 
Alhambra, where a ballet is usually 
given. There, I saw ''Algeria," a fine 
production with splendid stage settings 
and good music. Monsieur Jacobi, the 
conductor of the orchestra, had written 
the ballet music. He directed ably a 
body of fifty first-class players, nearly all 
foreigners, as most good musicians are in 
English-speaking countries. 

At the Royal Theatre I saw Coquelin 
play *'Un Parisien." This comedian's 
acting is so natural; his vocal inflec- 



LONDON thro' FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 4^ 

tions, facial expression, gesticulations, all 
simulate so well the result of inherent 
feeling that you forget the actor and 
sympathize with the man. Each auditor 
thinks he is the only person addressed. 
Coquelin has a private interview with me 
and for the while, under the spell of 
his magic power, the immense audience 
around me has ceased to exist. It is to 
me alone his tender words are spoken ; I 
shudder when he is angry, weep when he 
is sad, laugh when he is gay. He pulls so 
skillfully the strings of my emotions that, 
when the curtain falls, I realize he has 
made a jumping-jack of me. There 
could not be more science in his art, nor 
more art in his science. 

VI. 

The Prince of Wales was present and 
seemed to enjoy the play hugely. When 
a word, a phrase, a line impressed him he 
immediately translated it aloud to those 
in his box, evidently anxious to have his 



46 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

friends share his fun. After seeing his 
jovial face and hearing his unconstrained 
laughter, I concluded that this good- 
humored man would surely make a satis- 
factory king, especially with the fetters of 
the English Constitution about his throne. 
*' Honesty is the best policy," — when you 
are closely watched. 

Joking aside. If there is any indication 
of character in physiognomy, the heir to 
the crown of England is the prototype of 
bonhomie. Many believe he would be 
preferable to his mother because he would 
make things lively in London, while she 
shuts herself up in her palace out of town. 
A leading merchant went so far as to say: 
' 'She is so miserly she reminds me of an old 
cook." Wonderful to relate! The Queen 
of England and Empress of India called 
thus by one of her subjects ! So passes 
away earthly glory. Quite a number of 
Englishmen would prefer a republic, and 
some of them expect to see that form of 



LONDON thro' FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 4/ 

government in England. Will the 
change be advantageous.? I wonder, at 
times, vs^hether our sovereign Irish politi- 
cian is not worse than an English king. 
Surely the cost of regal pomp cannot 
amount to more than is wrenched from 
our taxpayers by unscrupulous officials. 

VII. 

What lofty thoughts the mere name of 
Westminster Abbey evokes ! This edi- 
fice has been the coronation church of 
England's rulers from the reign of Harold, 
but it is especially important as the pan- 
theon of the nation. The Abbey rises 
from the marshy ground bordering the 
Thames. Of much less bulk than St. 
Paul's, it is far greater in renown for its 
historical associations. The choir in 
which the sovereigns are crowned is a 
splendid specimen of early English ; it 
contains tombs of kings. The north tran- 
sept alone, however, shelters much more 
than all the rest, for there are the graves 



48 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

of England's most illustrious sons and 
truest nobility. There rest the ashes of 
dazzling literary lights from Chaucer to 
Tennyson : princes of the realm of intel- 
lect who need no storied urn or animated 
bust to make their last abode famous. 

It was Sunday morning and I decided 
to hear a sermon in this memorable 
church. The preacher delivered an im- 
pressive exhortation to charity. He 
spoke graphically and with pathos, de- 
scribing the misery of some little ones 
who were found the night before asleep 
upon the pavement, and nearly dead 
from cold, hunger, and disease. Poor 
children ! Forsaken under windows 
whence issued the joyful sounds of the 
dance ; cold in sight of blazing fire-places; 
hungry within the tantalizing fumes of a 
banquet. Can Divine Justice have de- 
creed that some should have all and others 
nothing ? How consoling to believe that 
the rich were designed to be guardians 
for the improvident ! 



LONDON THRO FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 49 

It is only when listening to sermons 
upon charity that I feel profoundly religious 
in a place of worship. Instead of wrang- 
les and heresy trials, dear theologians ! 
talk to us oftener about moral philosophy 
disentangled from the meshes of your or- 
thodoxy. Charity, 'tis the true Chris- 
tianity. There is so much suffering dn 
Christendom and elsewhere that, perhaps, 
your mission upon earth is to lighten the 
burdens of this world rather than to ex- 
aggerate the torments or the beatitude of 
the other. Do good, Buddhist-like, 
through personal abnegation. By your 
own living example inculcate gentleness 
in the brutal, and generosity in the 
miserly. He who practises virtue is nobler 
than he who preaches it. The lofty 
thoughts of Pascal are made loftier be- 
cause they harmonize with his noble life. 
St. Augustine is great in character as well 
as intellect. Buddha, Socrates, Christ, 
Marcus Aurelius are beloved for what they 



50 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

lived no less than for what they said. Re- 
member that your disputations will not 
prove even the very elemental principles 
of your creeds : the existence of God, 
the divinity of Christ, the immortality of 
the soul. Can, then, splitting dogmatic 
hairs bring thinking men to you ? And 
will your abstractions impress the igno- 
rant ? Sectarianism has not done so much 
for the cause of true religion as softness 
of heart. Let human goodness prove the 
existence of Divine Goodness. And to 
do this, give not merely words, but give 
your life's blood. Charitable actions will 
win more men than all the rhetoric and 
logic from Moses to Leo XIIL He who 
gives to the poor lends to God. 

VIII. 

The imposing Tower of London was 
built in 1078 to protect the port and 
overawe the citizens. It covers about 
twenty-six acres. The buildings are 
mainly of the Norman period — that of 



LONDON THRO FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 5 I 

Henry III., but architecture of almost 
all styles which have flourished in Eng- 
land may be found within its walls. This 
edifice has been a fortress, a palace, a 
prison. To-day it is an arsenal and a 
safe for the crown jewels, the Regalia. 
This vast and gloomy mass of buildings 
recalls historical phases no less great and 
sombre. Here is the place where Anne 
Boleyn was executed ; there, the room in 
the Beauchamp Tower so celebrated for 
the rare carvings cut in its walls by those 
awaiting death. At various epochs these 
ornamentations were made with common 
knives by prisoners — pitiable wretches, 
often imprisoned for the sole offense of 
having incurred the antipathy of the 
king. And, if they were stupid enough 
to believe in the divine right of the sov- 
ereign, they must have found but little 
comfort in prayer, alas ! their only sol- 
ace. In those dark days imprisonment 
in the Tower would have been regarded 



52 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

as a light punishment, had not the con- 
finement there been the stepping-stone 
to the scaffold and cruel beheading. 

IX. 

The most dreary period in the exist- 
ence of a Frenchman in this city is a 
Sunday afternoon. A cigar and the pro- 
verbial ''brandy and soda " cannot pre- 
vent the sad, doleful, mournful, funereal 
day from invading his soul. With the 
son of Guzman Blanco, the ex-President 
of Venezuela, and a genial acquaintance 
from Havana, we were endeavoring to 
dispel dismal thoughts by relating our 
youthful escapades about the Latin 
Quarter. But this soon grew monoto- 
nous, and, with my Cuban friend, I 
started out for a stroll in the direction of 
Trafalgar Square. The night before 
there had been some rioting there, and, 
just as the most benevolent of men will 
tacitly wish for a conflagration, if there is 



LONDON thro' FRANCO-AMERICAN EYES. 53 

to be a fire at all, so we, too, were hoping 
for, at least, a small revolution. Upon 
the square v/ere crouched about twenty 
thousand ugly looking creatures. And 
what a motley and grimy crowd ! Ur- 
chins, Socialists, Communists, Anar- 
chists, Nihilists, unemployed work- 
men, and old women in rags, all 
listening to ungrammatical Mirabeaus. 
After a harangue the rabble would make 
a rush for the surrounding shops, being 
barely prevented from breaking into these 
fine establishments by a squadron of po- 
lice. We were watching the guardians 
of the peace trying to encircle this canaille 
within the stone work around Nelson's 
statue. As my Havanese companion 
was remarking that it would be impossi- 
ble in Paris for such a crowd to remain 
long undisturbed, we heard a howl sud- 
denly arising from that human herd, as 
from a pack of hounds, and we saw the 
mob turn rapidly to that part of the 
square where we stood. Recalling the 



54 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

wise saying, ' ' It is better to be called a 
poltroon after the war than to be a one- 
legged organ grinder, " I at once suggested 
to my chum that discretion might be the 
better part of valor, and putting precept 
into example as fast as our legs could, 
we ran back to the hotel. Our silk hats 
having no claim upon the sympathy of 
the hungry horde, immediately became 
their targets. Stones, cabbage-stalks, 
and other missiles whose properties we 
did not stop to investigate, were hurled 
at us unmercifully. But the hotel was 
near, and we escaped unhurt, though un- 
fit for appearance in any drawing-room. 
It was so close a call that we decided to 
remain in-doors for the rest of the day, 
satisfied with that much sight-seeing. 
The next morning I read that several 
workmen were clubbed, and scores of 
policemen stoned. 

After all, thought I, a quiet Sunday 
afternoon is not without its charms, even 
in London. 



CHAPTER IV. 

IMPRESSIONS OF HOLLAND. 

Were it not for the artificial mounds 
of sand, called dunes, which border the 
coast of the Noord Zee, the home of the 
tulip would have become long ago that of 
the sea-weed. The part of the country 
bordering on the coast lies below the 
level of the sea and, on account of this, 
the name of Netherlands, or low countries, 
has been given to the entire nation. Next 
to Belgium, I think that Holland is the 
most densely populated among civilized 
countries. Four millions of people live 
on an area of less than fourteen thousand 
square miles. If one have occasion to 
walk out in the country, he must always 
be very careful not to step upon a child 
or into some canal or pond. Holland is 
another Venice on a larger scale. 

Industry, perseverance, frugality, and 



56 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

a sedateness of manners bordering on in- 
civility, characterize the Hollanders. I 
will record some indubitable proofs of 
their impoliteness. 

The average Dutchman is taller than a 
Frenchman, and, being smaller than most 
men of my race, I created a commotion 
whenever I appeared among people who 
had not been taught to dissimulate their 
feelings. In the streets of Utrecht even 
well-dressed, and apparently gentle, wo- 
men stopped in the middle of the side- 
walk to await my approach in order to 
see me more closely as I passed by. 
Some went so far as to stoop, stare at 
me, scrutinize me carefully, and then ex- 
claim : "Isn't he little!" This was a 
common occurence in every small town 
in Holland. The wonder of these good 
women might have been pardonable had 
it not expressed itself in so obtrusive a 
manner. 

Perhaps it is the hypocritical education 



IMPRESSIONS OF HOLLAND. 57 

of our day which teaches us to restrain the 
expansion of astonishment; still, this con- 
trol of one's emotions is no doubt a mark 
of ascent in the social scale. Self-re- 
straint, too, is an evidence of man's 
higher organization. Oysters and sponges 
contract as an effect of pain and dilate 
with joy to the point of opening. The 
Hollanders who glared at me reminded 
me of such low forms of life. 

In London and Paris the most uncom- 
mon scenes attract little or no attention. 
The inhabitants of a great capital have seen 
so much that is odd or usual, ugly or beau- 
tiful, big or little ! A man could stand on 
his head on the Boulevard des Italiens 
without being noticed. A Parisian, while 
on the street, is especially unconcerned, 
except when a handsome woman passes. 
Then, can we blame him ? I am sure 
the handsome woman does not, if the 
Parisian belief that a women would rather 
be insulted than ignored, is founded on 
experience. d 



58 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

But let US return to our sheep to note 
one more proof of Dutch coarseness. 
This latter case, however, being an iso- 
lated one, should not lead to any conclu- 
sions unfavorable to this people. Yet, it 
was so unusual that I will mention it. 
A girl about seventeen years old, was 
walking towards me on a country road 
leading to a small North Holland town. 
When about ten feet from me she stopped, 
and, facing me, quietly fixed her garter, 
while I passed on, outwardly dignified 
and unmoved, though inwardly thunder- 
struck at so much innocence and want of 
decorum. It was indeed another fit oc- 
casion when to exclaim : ' ' Evil to him 
who evil thinks !" 

Perhaps the strongest national trait of 
these sea-faring people is their love of 
cleanliness, which they carry to the point 
of monomania. They dread dust as if it 
were the black vomit. From morning 
till night, and during the severest weather. 



IMPRESSIONS OF HOLLAND. 59 

you can always see people washing their 
houses inside and outside, and from 
cellar to roof. 

Education here is well diffused. To- 
day, as in former times, this nation fur- 
nishes a goodly quota of artists and 
thinkers. Its philosophers, painters, and 
musicians have always played a promi- 
nent role in the development of thought 
and art. 

II. 

The knowledge of several languages 
facilitates the acquirement of additional 
ones. In some instances, when marked 
etymological and grammatical analogies 
exist, as between Dutch and German, the 
linguist learns a new tongue almost in- 
stantaneously. Vocabulary and syntax 
come as if by intuition. 

Many years ago, long before giving any 
attention to the study of Spanish, I rec- 
ollect carrying a lengthy and interesting 
conversation with a Spaniard, who could 



6o OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

Speak only Spanish. We understood 
each other thoroughl)^, although I was 
unacquainted with one Spanish word ! 
My familiarity with other Romance 
tongues enabled me to express myself in- 
telligibly, though incorrectly. In Rou- 
mania, I understood at once the signs on 
the stores, and nearly all the matter in 
the newspapers. The Roumanian seems 
to me a Latin patois. In the Nether- 
lands, I had the same experience. The 
first time I heard : " Welke is de Kortste 
weg naar V and : " Waan zijn wij nu f 
I knew from the English and the German 
that these sentences meant : *■ * Which is 
the shortest way to.''" and: "Where are we 
now T In Dutch the words hedeit^ nior- 
geUy gisteren mean to-day, to-morrow, 
yesterday. Anyone, though only slightly 
acquainted with German, will hear the 
similarity. 

To tribes of old Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, 
Franks, and Frisians may be traced the 



IMPRESSIONS OF HOLLAND. 6 1 

origin of the Dutch language. Flemish or 
Belgium Dutch, though closely allied to 
the Dutch of Holland, essentially differs 
in many important points. In roots and 
grammar it betrays more French influ- 
ences. 

I went about Holland without a 
guide, and found no difficulty to under- 
stand or be understood ; at least 
I thought so, and this belief answered 
my purpose. Objects to us are black or 
white if we think so. Perhaps they are 
red or blue instead, but if we were color- 
blind we would still think that we saw 
the right color. Misunderstanding is 
more frequent than non-understanding. 
We often fail to comprehend without per- 
ceiving our failure, and we complacently 
draw another signification. This is a 
common weakness with those who are 
studying foreign languages, not to speak 
of the millions of others who stumble 
over the same block in every walk of life. 



62 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

In Holland, were one to meet educated 
men and women exclusively, it would 
only be necessary to speak French, for 
all such persons know that tongue. 
Many among them speak several other 
languages in addition. Hollanders, like 
Russians, are polyglots. It is natural 
that a nation v/hose language is not 
spoken beyond its frontiers, except by its 
citizens, should try to acquire the lan- 
guages of others. It is a matter of neces- 
sity. Conversely, the French are the 
poorest linguists in Europe. They do not 
need to know another vernacular because 
their own is used in the polite circles of 
all civilized countries. 
III. 

The head-dress of the Dutch women is, 
perhaps, the most original in Europe. It 
consists of a piece of plated silver which 
covers the head, and over which rests a 
lace cape. Well-to-do wives frequently 
place a hat of the latest design over both 



IMPRESSIONS OF HOLLAND. 63 

metal and cape. That the combination 
is most ludicrous goes without saying. 
Talking about hats, I must relate a curi- 
ous fact. A prominent London hatter 
recently remarked that m.an's head con. 
tinues to grow until he is seventy, and 
that, consequently, he has to augment 
the size of his hats from time to time. 
This gradual growth is noticeable in all 
professions except in that of theology ! 
Of course, I am now only repeating the 
opinion of the hatter. Those upon whose 
mental toes I may be treading through 
the record of this statement, will kindly 
apply elsewhere for redress ; I have 
neither manufactured nor sold head-gear, 
and therefore can neither prove nor re- 
fute this comical assertion. 

Horticulture, strange anomaly, has 
always been a hobby with the Holland- 
ers, — these innate navigators. Even to- 
day, Holland supplies her bulbs to the 
finest gardens in Europe. To conceive 



64 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

of Holland without tulips would be as 
difficult as to make an omelette without 
eggs. Tulipomania, a violent passion for 
the possession of rare varieties of the 
tulip, once seized the people of Holland. 
During the sixteenth century, speculation 
in flowers became as important as our own 
Wall Street transactions. One tulip bulb, 
called ''Semper Augustus" brought the 
fabulous sum of 13,000 florins. A tulip 
bulb was frequently owned by shares. In 
a single Dutch town, it is recorded that 
ten million florins were gained in one 
year by the sale of tulips. The mania 
finally subsided, thanks to the energetic 
measures taken by the government to stop 
this reckless speculation, which was 
threatening to injure seriously the finances 
of the nation. 

Haarlem is still the heart of the tulip 
culture, and thence numberless bulbs are 
shipped yearly to European and Ameri- 
can markets. In the beginning of May, 



IMPRESSIONS OF HOLLAND. 65 

once, I chanced to be in the environs of 
that quaint old town. The air all about 
me was pregnant with the most delicious 
perfumes. The sight of vast fields of 
multicolored flowers filled my heart with 
gladness by the variety and gaiety of 
their coloring. The enchanting scene 
evoked some of the thrilling phases in 
the history of the tulips of Holland. 
Then I wondered how these tender petals 
could ever have been the cause of a com- 
plex social and financial problem ! 



CHAPTER V. 

DUELLING. 

I. 

"The Christless code that must have life for a 
blow." 

Just beyond the walls of Paris, one de- 
lightful June afternoon, I was riding in a 
street car. Absorbed in the contempla- 
tion of the varied and picturesque scene- 
ry which greets the eye of the way- 
farer in the environs of that city, I did 
not notice a wagon in front of our 
conveyance. My attention was drawn 
to a cluster of dainty white cottages sur- 
rounded by their pretty kitchen gardens, 
when suddenly I was thrown from my 
seat. There ended my reverie. We had 
just struck a vehicle and injured the poor 
fellow who was driving. Numerous kind 
hands lifted the wounded man into a drug 
store and the car resumed its journey. A 



DUELLING. 6j 

typical native seated near me, immediate- 
ly began a seemingly endless tirade 
against the railroad company. ' ' To add 
dividends," said he, all the Vv^hile assum- 
ing dramatic attitudes, ' ' what care they 
for human life } This is the modern 
Juggernaut. Where is our vaunted civil- 
ization } In order to save time the di- 
rectors of the company become pitiless 
butchers. It is horrible, horrible !" He 
spoke so measuredly and his declamation 
was so correct that one might have thought 
he had memorized this speech for the oc- 
casion. And one would have surmised 
the truth, for the fellow was a lawyer on 
his way to argue the case of a man who 
had been injured on this same line, but a 
few days before. 

Another occupant of the car, who hap- 
pened to be one of the ''pitiless butch- 
ers," to which allusion had just been 
made, since he was a director in this car 
company, felt it his imperative duty to 



68 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

resent the epithet, though appKed collec- 
tively. He pulled out his card and po- 
litely handed it to the Parisian Cicero, 
saying : '* Monsieur, you are trying to 
make a theatrical scene of this natural and 
unfortunate accident. Thus you hope to 
help the case you have on hand. Mon- 
sieur, you are a hog !" ''And you, Mon- 
sieur, " retorted the lawyer, ' '-you are both 
a hog and a liar ! My witnesses will call to- 
morrow at nine to arrange the details of 
our encounter." Thus ended the alterca- 
tion. I did not learn the result of this 
duel but, from the records in similar cas- 
es, one may infer that no accident oc- 
curred. 

II. 
In all probability foils were selected as 
weapons. Every French gentleman is 
supposed to fence well. Apropos of this, 
it may be said that fencing has greatly 
humanized the duel, which, in former 
times, permitted every unfair advantage 



DUELLING. 69 

to be taken of the opponent. Of all the 
modes of duelling that with swords is the 
least odious, if conducted according to 
the urbane rules of fencing. It should 
not be thought that fencing is to be learn- 
ed only by soldiers or would-be duellists ; 
it is, above all, a social accomplishment. 
No gentleman on the continent of Europe 
would avow that he is inexpert with the 
foils. 

The art of fencing is as old as man- 
kind, but it began to be developed upon 
scientific principles only during the six- 
teenth century. At that time, the Italians 
were the best fencers ; later, however, 
the French took the lead, by suppressing 
all the unnecessary and fatiguing move- 
ments of the Italian school, and by mak- 
ing fencing a mathematical science no 
less than a delightful art. 

Fencing is, perhaps, the most satisfac- 
tory physical exercise ; it acts on every 
muscle, and although the strain is greater 



70 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

than in boxing, the effects are more ben- 
eficial. It is the most healthful and the 
most graceful gymnastic exercise. 

The expert fencer is distinguishable by 
the development of his chest, by the fine- 
ness and elasticity of his step, and by the 
ease and elegance of his carriage. It is 
difficult to understand why Americans 
have not taken up this pastime instead of 
boxing. 

Fencing calls into play all the faculties, 
either mental or physical. In the twink- 
ling of an eye you must measure your ad- 
versary's power ; by his first movement 
you should decide whether he is a nerv- 
ous fellow and whether his attack or his 
defense is his strongest point. You 
should also see if his guard is weak ; in 
fact, your mind should be active quite as 
much as your body. 

There is nothing rough in fencing, and 
although it calls for the expenditure of 
much energy there is no need of over-ex- 



DUELLING. 71 

ertion. Persons of delicate constitutions 
can learn to fence well, while they gain 
strength in the exercise. To-day many 
women fence principally to develop the 
body, and to give it grace, strength, and 
elasticity. ' ' Half of my pupils, " recently 
remarked a well-known French professor, 
* ' are ordered here by their medical men — 
overworked students, barristers, and lit- 
erary men whose livers got out of order, 
hypochondriacs and sentimentalists of all 
sorts. There is not a nervous disease 
which is not curable by the fencing mas- 
ter. And it is so enticing ! Advance a 
little in fencing and you cannot leave it 
off. The first steps over, the task be- 
comes a delight ; the teacher has no longer 
any need to gild the pill." 
III. 
Though French duels are notorious for 
their harmlessness, it is pitiful that en- 
lightened France should retain upon its 
social code so barbarous a survival of feu- 



72 OBSERVATIONS OF A MUSICIAN. 

dalism. In what does the modern duel dif- 
fer from an affray between savages or loaf- 
ers, if we except that mark of human puer- 
ility: good form ? The duel is no longer 
an appeal to God ; it is only to satisfy 
the supposed wounded honor of the com- 
batants. Probed to the bottom, it might 
be found to be a childish sacrifice upon the 
altar of public opinion. Duelling was 
consistent in an age when men believed 
in the divine right of kings and priests. 
What can be proved by the result of a 
duel in our skeptical times ? Nothing, 
except that, with tacit social sanction, a 
good fencer can kill the man he insults. 
Were we yet to believe in the interven- 
tion of the Almighty in the petty affairs 
of this infinitesimal speck : man, there 
might be some grounds for adhering 
to this mediaeval custom. But Hea- 
ven is no longer called upon to proclaim 
a truth or to punish a lie. 

A practice founded on the superstitious 



DUELLING. 73 

Spirit of a barbarous epoch should not be 
preserved by the civiKzed. Might is no 
longer right in jurisprudence. Blackstone 
thought the duel was ^ ' a high contempt 
of the justice of the nation, and a strong 
aggravation of the affray, though no mis- 
chief has actually ensued." Moralists and 
jurists will agree upon this point, though 
they disagree often as regards the moral- 
ity of legal rights. 

To the credit of Americans, let it be re- 
corded that they abhor the duel, and re- 
gard it as a cruelty both absurd and mean- 
ingless, one that should be banished to 
innocuous desuetude, for to-day it has 
not the legal and religious sanction of the 
savage period which gave it birth. 

The duel in France is the boldest sym- 
bol of human inconsistency. French- 
men, they, endowed with so large a 
share of that most uncommon of all 
senses — common sense — still practise this 
unspeakable nonsense. Intellectual and 

E 



74 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

educated men of excellent moral char- 
acter, (barring out that particular im- 
moral propensity to fight a duel), chal- 
lenge one another upon the least provo- 
cation. And they do not fight for the 
mere pleasure of fighting, as some unchar- 
itable foreigners might think. French- 
men have not the instinct of pugilism 
so strongly developed as have their Anglo- 
Saxon brothers. Chivalrous, excitable, 
and susceptible feelings are the strong 
traits of the French race. These foster 
the duel in modern Gaul, and brush aside 
all the logic and culture of the nineteenth 
century. 

It is a noteworthy fact that the great- 
est of all Frenchmen, Napoleon, was not 
a partisan of the duel. He was too rea- 
sonable. The King of Sweden once sent 
him a challenge, to which he replied : "I 
shall send you a fencing master as pleni- 
potentiary." 



CHAPTER VI. 

ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 
I. 

One summer an uncontrollable desire 
to visit Spain seized me, and I went to 
Barcelona, Madrid, Escorial, Cordova, 
Malaga, Granada, Seville, Toledo, Bur- 
gos, and San Sebastian. 

This visit was more than a pastime ; 
it was a necessity — like the fulfilment of 
one of the purposes of life. The hope of 
sojourning in Spain had been for years a 
most cherished dream, and now I regret 
that this hope has been realized. There 
is no other land the anticipation of whose 
sight can give me so much pleasure. 

Immediately after crossing the Pyre- 
nees a complete metamorphosis takes 
place. When you step into Spain, you 
step out of Europe. The dress, the cus- 
toms, the music, the opinions of the 



j6 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

people, differ from anything you have 
seen or heard, unless you have lived in 
some Oriental country. The clapping of 
hands to call the servants, instead of 
ringing the bell ; the water venders with 
their earthen jugs ; the strange rhythms, 
weird melodies, and wild harmonies ; the 
dark, almond eyes, and long lashes ; the 
extreme courteousness in manners, and 
the abundance of florid metaphors in 
speech, all remind you of the Far East, 
notwithstanding its local color. 

From Barcelona I took a train for 
Madrid, breaking the journey at Sara- 
gossa. 

II. 

One Sunday afternoon in Madrid 
I saw my first, and, I hope, last bull- 
fight. It must be admitted that the sight 
from the start was very attractive. 
There can be no scene more picturesque 
than the entrance of the bull into the 
arena with gaily attired toreros, mata- 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. "JJ 

dores, and picadores, ready with steel 
points, lances, and swords to infuriate the 
animal. 

To see a bull and a man fight is inter- 
esting enough, but when the half-dead 
horses are brought blind-folded into the 
ring, for the sole purpose of being gored 
by the maddened bull, then I am ineffa- 
bly disgusted. This sport is the most 
cruel relic of barbarism. I can hardly 
associate such brutality with the gentle- 
ness and apparent refinement of all 
classes of Spaniards. It has been said 
that the taste for bull-fighting was di- 
minishing in Spain, and that civilization 
would soon wipe out this odious practice. 
As well think of Spain without sunshine 
aS without bull-fights ! Those inclined to 
believe in the ultimate disappearance of 
this sanguinary sport would soon change 
their mind should they ever be on a road 
leading to the bull ring on the day of the 
fight. The dia de tores becomes a holiday. 



78 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

The city is all excitement. The streets on 
the way to the arena are crowded with men 
and women on foot or on horse-back and 
with conveyances of all kinds ; from the 
most dilapidated grocery wagon, drawn 
by a phlegmatic donkey, to a royal equip- 
age. Every available vehicle is put to 
use. To go to a bull-fight vcvdjuy manolas, 
they say, will mortgage their mattress, 
and I venture to add that some, perhaps, 
even hypothecate their soul for that pur- 
pose. 

I do not like Madrid. It is too cosmo- 
politan. One goes to Spain to see Span- 
ish things, but the capital of Castilla is a 
bad imitation of Paris where Spanish is 
spoken. 

I visited the celebrated Escoriai, a 
vast monument of granite built by Phillip 
II., and I could see no beauty in that 
gigantic and solemn edifice. Its sight 
fills one with awe and melancholy. There 
is not one line that relieves the eye as it 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 79 

wanders around the endless facades of 
this immense convent. 

One afternoon I started for Toledo with 
the intention of going from there into 
Andalusia. Going over the bridge of Al- 
cantara, with bright Toledo standing on 
the rock which rises hundreds of feet 
above the river, I was struck by the 
grandeur and uniqueness of that proud 
old city, which some historians call the 
oldest on earth. However, after walking 
over the uneven and greasy cobbles with 
which the town is paved, my enchantment 
soon disappeared. 

III. 

On my way to Cordova, after reach- 
ing a small station only a few miles be- 
yond Toledo, my train stopped. I in- 
quired the cause and was told that the 
express train for Cordova only passed on 
Tuesdays and Fridays. As this happened 
on a Monday afternoon I found myself 
with the delightful prospect of spending 



80 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

a night and a day in one of the most for- 
lorn hamlets I had ever seen. 

Although I had already enjoyed many 
novel experiences since coming to the 
country of the puc hero (a mixture of beef, 
garbanzos, bacon, potatoes, cabbages, 
consumptive chickens, onions, garlic, oil, 
etc., which is served daily in Spain), I 
did not know that I would be obliged to 
subsist on thirty-five cents a day. This, 
however, I had to do. In my haste when 
leaving Madrid, I forgot to ascertain how 
much current money I had with me, and 
when I reached the only posada (inn) in 
the town, I found myself with exactly 
three and ovL^AyAi pesetas — about seventy 
cents. This sum was all I could have 
until reaching Cordova, where bankers 
would honor my letters of credit. Hav- 
ing to count my pennies, I bargained 
cautiously for my bed-room. It was to 
cost twenty cents. For ten cents, in 
the evening, I ate some puchero and 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 8 I 

drank a large glass of Valdepefias wine. 
In the morning four inches of saucisso7i, 
six fresh figs, and a bottle of wine again 
reduced my change by twenty cents. 
Thus, as I resumed my journey toward 
Cordova, I had twenty cents left for water, 
which must be purchased at the railway 
stations. And how glad one is to be able 
now and then to have a good wash when 
the thermometer is at one hundred in the 
shade and the dust blinding as in the Sa- 
hara! I would not advise a Sybarite to travel 
through Spain at any time, still less would 
I recommend a trip during the summer. 
It is so warm, and everything is so dusty ! 

IV. 

But, here I was, and I decided to make 
the best of it. I was determined to see 
the Peninsula thoroughly, notwithstand- 
ing the dirt, the heat, and the beggars. 
In Cordova I visited the celebrated Mos- 
que, with its many columns of rare mar- 
ble. In Granada I saw the Alhambra, 



82 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

the finest Moorish building in existence. 
This is doubtless the noblest architectural 
conception. My next objective point was 
Malaga, because I wanted to drink some 
of the wine that bears the city's name. 
Thence I went to Seville — that is, to the 
heart of Andalusia, where I found the 
most gentlemanly men and the prettiest 
women. 

The skies of Italy cannot compare 
their azure to the blue vault of Andalusia, 
and no other country possesses so many 
types of perfect human beauty. Almost 
every girl in Seville has the face of a 
Murillo Madonna, with the totirnure 
of a Parisian grisette, for the Andalusian 
is as graceful in dress, manner, and car- 
riage as she is beautiful. This lovely 
creature lacks, perhaps, the piquancy of 
the French girl and the versatility of the 
American, but she has, in a greater meas- 
ure than either, ingenuousness, that inef- 
fable charm of woman. 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 83 

How bewitching the little Andalusian 
girls, with their snow-white skin, coal- 
black eyes, and pearl-like teeth, evenly 
ranged in a small mouth. And what 
little hands and feet ! Like those of a 
doll. I remember one in particular : 

' ' Un ange, tine jeune Espagnole ! 
" Blanches mains, sein gonfl^de sonpirs innocents. 
Un oeil noir on luisaient des regards de cr6ole, 
Et ce charme inconnu cette fraiclie atir6ole 

Qui couronne un front de quinze ans! " 

Could you have seen her beautiful 
head behind the strategic fan, you 
too, would have been fascinated. Did I 
say strategic ? Yes, and with reason, for 
many a love battle is fought and won 
with a fan in Southern Spain. 

V. 

One more word about this great nation 
now fallen so low. Spain is one hundred 
years behind the rest of Europe. With 
her strange combination of fanatics and 
anarchists, this country cannot progress 
faster than her express trains, and they 



84 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

go at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, 
when they go at all ! In Spain, conserva- 
tism retrogrades, while liberalism rushes 
blindly ahead. Here foolish and proud 
Don Quixotes, abject beggars, obsequious 
bigots, dishonest officials, greedy priests, 
fossil pedagogues, visionary statesmen, 
and illiterate and overtaxed Sancho 
Panzas, still sing harmoniously to the 
joyful twang of the guitar. 

Yet, under all circumstances, and in all 
conditions, Spaniards are, if nothing else, 
happy. That which makes your stay among 
them especially pleasant, is their constant 
alegria (bubbling mirth). No one frowns 
in Southern Spain ; everybody smiles. At 
all hours you can hear the tender and 
spasmodic guitar accompanying some 
semi-Oriental and gay melody wedded to 
words that tell how sweet life is en Espana. 
Had you heard such a song in the gardens 
of the Alcazar or of the Alhambra, you 
would have felt as sad as I did when I 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 85 

left these celestial haunts where each 
plant breathes a perfume, each sound is 
a song, each woman an angel. 

All things considered, one cannot help 
loving these people, not alone for their 
contagious mirth, and their ' ' devil-may- 
care " sort of existence, but because they 
are the most polite on earth : not so 
through mere forms of empty etiquette, 
but from the truest source of politeness — 
a generous heart ! 

VI. 

If you intend to go to Spain, lay out 
your route in advance, and sail for Gib- 
raltar from New York. While on railway 
trains sit with your back toward the en- 
gine, to avoid cold and cinders. Take as 
little luggage as possible. Our check 
system is not yet introduced, and your 
trunk may go anywhere except to its des- 
tination, if it be not carefully watched. 
Spaniards know that so well that they 
generally carry only boxes and large hand 



S6 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

bags, which they take in the passenger 
compartment. These things often cover 
the floor to one's discomfort, for few per- 
sons enjoy sitting with their knees in 
their mouth. I was forced to remain in 
that position all the way from Madrid to 
Toledo. 

At the station do not expect trustworthy 
information from employes concerning 
the arrival or departure of trains. Of all 
the men on earth the Spanish railway 
official is the last one who should be ex- 
pected to read the future, for he rarely 
knows how to read at all. Have your 
baggage ready to be weighed, registered, 
and forwarded twenty-five minutes before 
the supposed time of the departure of 
trains. If you only make fifteen miles an 
hour on the fastest express, keep cool ; 
your steam will not add to the locomo- 
tion. 

Travel a little in third-class carriages, 
just to see how courteous even the peas- 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. ?>y 

ants are, notwithstanding — strange ano- 
maly ! the lilthy habits of many of them. 

When selecting hotels, do not be influ- 
enced by guide-books. The name of the 
best may not be mentioned if its manager 
has not paid for such an advertisement. 
English or French is spoken at hotels of 
the first-class. The average charge is ten 
pesetas ($2) a day and fees to servants. 
Carry matches ; I have never found any 
in my apartments. Expect to inhale the 
fumes of bad tobacco everywhere — even 
at your meals. Always drink the vin du 
pays. Do not hope for free hot rolls, 
butter, iced-water, tooth-picks, matches, 
lights, newspapers. You will perhaps be 
compensated for their absence by seltzer 
water, two kinds of excellent native wine, 
a great variety of luscious fruits, and good 
olive oil, which are served at all times 
and in every hotel without extra charge. 

Take additional meals and drinks at 
the nearest cafe — never at your hotel. 



88 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

For example, at the cafe, a glass of 
Chartreuse will cost four cents, if you do 
not divulge your nationality ; at the hotel, 
w^here it is known, you will be charged 
ten cents, if you are French ; fifteen, if 
English ; twenty-five, if American. Gen- 
erous fees to servants will insure better 
service than will fashionable clothes or 
arrogance. It is not so much, what you 
are, as what you give, that impresses 
the criada (chambermaid) with your im- 
portance. If dissatisfied with anything, 
express yourself in gentle terms. The 
Spaniard may be poor, but he is always 
proud. If you do not wish to be regarded 
as a boor, be more polite than in the 
United States. If you care less for clean- 
liness and comfort than for garlic and 
domesticated diminutive kangaroos, buy 
some insect powder and stay at casas dc 
hucspcdcs (boarding houses). But where- 
ever you go, bargain in advance. In 
America, to be economical may seem 
sordid ; in Spain, it is admirable. 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 89 
VII. 

Memorize a number of phrases sufficient 
to enable you to go about without the par- 
asite called : European guide. You will 
spend less money, see a greater number 
of sights, and enjoy them better without 
this designing attendant. The knowledge 
of the French tongue will help you, since 
every educated Spaniard speaks French. 

At the Custom House assume an air 
neither innocent nor guilty ; appear as 
you would before a photographer. Then 
open your baggage quickly and be patient; 
this may save you time and bad blood. 

See one bull-fight, but do not express 
your disgust to a Spaniard. He is as 
fond of this sport as a true American is 
of base-ball. To retain or to increase his 
popularity the king or his representative 
must be seen occasionally at a bull-fight. 

Whenever possible, ascertain the price 
of things before attempting to buy, and 
make your payments without a word ; the 



90 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

mere fact that you asked: ' 'How much ?", 
not infrequently suggCvSts to the vender 
that he may ask as much more than the 
regular price as he think you will pay. 

Carry a letter of credit. Find out the 
rate of exchange from another source 
than your banking house. Count your 
money carefully and test every silver 
piece. You need borrow no trouble con- 
cerning gold. The leading banker in 
Barcelona informed me that he had not 
seen a piece of that metal in five years. 

Take a passport, but do not bother to 
get a letter of introduction to our diplo- 
matic representatives, even if you can ob 
tain one from the highest official sources 
in Washington. Such communications 
usually carry on their face the tacit hint: 
Do not mind this intruder. 

In conclusion I would say : Learn in 
advance all you can about Spain and its 
people ; buy a copy of the best guide- 



ACROSS THE LAND OF CARMEN. 9 1 

book ; do not start unless you have ample 
time and money, and in Rome do as 
Romans do. 

I have not tried to establish rules 
ot conduct for others ; I have simply 
jotted down hints as they came to 
me in the helter-skelter of travel. Like 
the ship-wrecked sailor who becomes a 
pilot, I am merely pointing out the rocks 
upon which I had the misfortune to 
strand. 



CHAPTER VII. 

REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 

' ' E7t esta nacion, mas que se vive, se 
recuerda. " 

I. 

The history of Italy forms a prominent 
chapter in the history of the world. It 
is the link from antiquity to us. One 
must look at this land from the retrospect. 
Each generation has left some sublime 
ruin which evokes vividly the thoughts 
and deeds of other days. Each stone 
becomes a tongue which tells eloquently 
some thrilling phase from the time of 
the Caesars to the Middle Ages, or from 
the Renaissance to the Italian Unity. In 
these annals is traced more than the de- 
velopment of a race — it is the unfolding of 
humanity itself ! 

Before the seizure of Rome by Vittorio 
Emanuelle, and with the recollection of 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 93 

Italy's former grandeur, it might have 
been fitting to exclaim: "How low 
are the mighty fallen !" But modern 
Italy, like the Phoenix, has arisen from 
her ashes. Freedom and education have 
dispelled clouds which seemed impene- 
trable. The sky is of azure now, and 
the sea is like the sky. Italy has been 
rejuvenated by her present government, 
which grants religious and civic liberties. 
To-day, her people live again in a period 
resembling, in many ways, that of Rome 
in her palmiest days. Certainly, the army 
and navy are a serious burden — like a 
ball to the country's foot. But then, 
they form a link in the chain of general 
peace, and the Triple Alliance needs 
them. They serve to preserve the equi- 
librium of European power ; therefore, let 
the Italian army and navy be praised. 

Guarding the temporal power of the 
pope was the criminal error of France. 
This, Italians cannot forget. Races in 



94 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

whose veins ebbs and flows the same ef- 
fervescent Latin blood have been es- 
stranged through the machinations of 
Napoleon, le petit. Much of the bitter 
feeling existing between France and Italy 
may be traced to this political blunder. 
A small commercial warfare is now waged 
while awaiting something worse. The 
French and Italians do not exchange their 
products willingly. Taking advantage of 
this unfriendliness between races which 
have every reason to fraternize, Germany 
sends commercial travelers from the top 
to the heel of the geographical boot. 
II. 
My childhood was passed in the south 
of France, where many Italian outlaws 
live, and, in addition to this, lleing the 
son of a Frenchman of the purest Chau- 
vinism, all my early surroundings had in- 
stilled into my heart an intense distrust, 
if not hate, of the Italian character ; so 
much so that I used to regard as acci- 
dents of fortune the gentle and honest 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 95 

Italians I had known before visiting 
their country. I had a vague ap- 
prehension that all Italians were either 
brigands or organ grinders. This is 
as sad as ridiculous, but I am not the 
only one who, living along the Riviera, 
has been led to such uncharitable conjec- 
tures by a national prejudice which news- 
papers and politicians do so much to 
propagate. How could a child escape 
influences which reached all classes of 
adults ? It is true that the vile Italian 
population which infests Marseilles — 
perhaps the most lawless in Europe — 
had helped to increase this mistrust. 
I knew, too, that in European statistics 
Italy held the first rank for murders. 
She has 9.53 convicts for 100,000 inhabi- 
tants, while Spain has only 8.25, Hun- 
gary 6.73, Austria 2.44, France 1.54, 
Belgium 1.44, Germany 1.12, and Eng- 
land 0.71. 

With a dim recollection of some such 



96 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

facts highly colored by my own imagina- 
tion, I arrived in Italy for the first time. 
One very dark winter night I found my- 
self walking alone in the tortuous and 
narrow streets of Vintimiglia in quest of 
a restaurant. My right hand in my over- 
coat pocket was nervously clutching a 
small revolver, but this means of defense 
did not reassure me. Each of the many 
tall and gloomy buildings was casting 
shadows which seemed to portend evil ; 
behind each pillar I fancied an assassin. 
The reverberation of the sound waves 
caused by my foot-steps appeared to me 
like the nimble tread at my heel of some 
black-mantled villain. Yet, I reached 
the inn unharmed, and there, instead of a 
den of thieves, I found a joyful and polite 
company in which I was well treated at 
a small cost. 

Although I was quite young at the 
time I entertained these foolish fears, I 
cannot, to this day, refrain from feeling 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 9/ 

mortified at the remembrance of the in- 
justice I had done these good people. 
But this youthful silliness was dispelled 
long ago. After frequent journeys from 
the Alps to the Vesuvius, and from the 
Adriatic to the Mediterranean, during 
which I met, almost invariably, with 
courteousness, gentleness, and even, gen- 
erosity, my false impressions have been 
effaced. I have now learned to admire 
and love many Italians. There is so 
much of the noble Romans in them. The 
prominent nose, the piercing black eye, 
the proud carriage, the suave voice, the 
flowery speech, the elegant gesture, and 
the majestic sweep with which they fling 
the flowing cloak over the broad shoulder, 
recall their glorious ancestry. 

It is unfortunate that there should be 
so many illiterate and lawless Italian 
emigrants throughout the world. They 
convey an erroneous idea of this great 
nation. There are more criminal Italians 



95 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

outside of, than in Italy. And the de- 
graded type one encounters m America — 
the Itahan railroad laborer — is never seen 
in an Italian city, not even in Naples. 
On the other hand, one rarely meets 
abroad the educated, intellectual native 
who, here, is ubiquitous, thanks to the 
thorough education his country affords. 
To-day Italian universities rank with the 
best in Europe. The highest culture 
flourishes again in its ancient home. 
III. 

I am yet under the spell of Venice's 
transcendant beauty. After having seen 
every city of note, I am inclined to call 
this the most interesting. It is, no 
doubt, the most characteristic. It is a 
prototype, a unique town. No antici- 
pation can equal one's realization when 
reaching Venice. If a soul can be poeti- 
cally inspired anywhere it must indeed be 
here. 

Perched upon myriads of rocks, while her 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 99 

feet perpetually bathe in the placid waters 
of the Adriatic, the original city of gondolas 
presents an incomparable aspect. Cozy 
niches will be preciously kept in the recesses 
of my memory for her marvellous churches, 
her incomparable Piazza San Marco, her 
sheets of blue water, and her light-heart- 
ed gondoliers. Can you imagine your- 
self in the centre of a busy town, and 
neither a mule nor a horse to be seen 
anywhere ? The sound of a hoof, so fa- 
miliar to us, would fall upon the ear of 
the Veneziane with the awful effect of 
subterranean rumbling, so novel and 
strange it would be. Silence here reigns 
supreme. The rhythmical fall and rise 
of the single oar, and the shout of warn- 
ing the gondolier gives before turning a 
corner, are the only sounds, even at mid- 
day, one hears about the town. The 
gondola silently carries you through the 
city, along rows of weird but always beau- 
tiful palaces. Now you pass the Rialto, 



100 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

now the Bridge of Sighs. Under these 
far-famed structures, themes of many a 
song, your soul soars as high as that of a 
Byron. 

No one should fail to see Venice ; 
though he be pestered, as I was, by beg- 
gars and would-be guides. You cannot 
step without an offer of service or advice, 
however unnecessary both be. These fel- 
lows annoyed me much, but as I can say 
vigorous things in Italian, I often let 
loose the reins of my feelings and told 
these loafers, in a manner most une- 
quivocal, to let me alone. Every time 
your gondola approaches a landing, one 
of these curs comes to help you. You 
protest against his assistance, but he is 
determined in either taking you by the 
hand and arm, or in steadying the boat. 
Of course he does all this if he thinks you 
are a foreigner ; for no Italian would give 
one penny though he be even a prince. 
English people, and especially Americans, 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. lOI 

have developed this lazy class in the 
countries they visit. The fact that indis- 
criminate charity is a crime is exemplified 
especially in Italy. Many able-bodied 
adults of both sexes have found that it 
paid a better income to follow the car- 
riage of an American with the request for 
tm soldo, than to work. And they keep 
up the practice, to the annoyance of in- 
dustrious Italians, and of wiser, though 
less chicken-hearted, travelers. 

If the word ' ' indescribable " may be 
fitly used, it is when speaking of the 
FisiZza. San Marco, one of the most glo- 
rious human achievements. No pen can 
tell the Byzantine magic and splendor of 
the Basilica, which stands on one side of 
the Piazza. The Ducal Palace, The 
Clock Tower, The Procuratie Vecchie 
e Nuove, The Campanile, and the cele- 
brated Lion of San Marco are some of the 
many other dazzling, gorgeous, superb 
features of this treasure-heap. 



102 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

Over the portal of San Marco, the re- 
splendent Byzantine cathedral, stand four 
magnificent bronze horses, which, though 
lifeless, have traveled more than horses 
generally do. They were made in Rome, 
and Constantine took them thence to the 
city which bears his name. Marino Zeno 
brought them to Venice in 1205 ; Napo- 
leon, to keep up the custom of conquerors, 
again took them and sent them to Paris 
in 1797. At last, in 181 5, they were re- 
stored to Venice. While I was admiring 
these much-traveled animals, a lady 
asked: ''Does anyone know how old 
these horses are .?" I at once seized the 
one great opportunity of my life, and ex- 
claimed: "Allow me, madam, to look at 
their teeth." 

IV. 

In Milan I visited the cathedral, a for- 
est of marble carvings, — artistic, grand, 
sublime ! I also went to La Scala, 
the leading Opera House of Italy, and 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. IO3 

the true home of ItaHan opera. Odd to 
say, I only heard Wagner's ' 'Lohengrin " 
there. 

This opera was not given in the calm, 
romantic German spirit. Unless one 
can hear them in New York, Wag- 
ner's works must be heard in the 
country that gave them birth. How- 
ever, the performance was highly satis- 
factory, notwithstanding its Italian color. 
As regards good singing, this execution of 
''Lohengrin," surpassed any I had ever 
heard from German singers. The orches- 
tra, under Faccio, at that time the best 
conductor of Italian Opera, seemed, ex- 
cepting some harshness in the brass sec- 
tion, perfection itself. 

V. 

Genoa is a commercial city, not an art 
centre. Yet it is not wholly devoid of 
art ; it contains many imposing old 
palaces and these are filled with rare 
works. The Campo Santo (cemetery), 
which is about two kilometres from the 



I04 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

city, is a miisouni of sculpture, rather 
than the nioiiniful phice so famihar to 
mortals. x\rt here seems to roh death of 
its terrors. 

The Villa Pallavicini is one of the most 
interesting points near Genoa. After a 
drive of about two hours, with the sea on 
one side and hills covered with vines and 
olive trees on the other, you reach the 
villa, after passing numerous handsome 
palaces and country residences. With 
its many wonders and artificial grottoes, 
the \i\h\ Pallavicini is doubtless the most 
noteworthy countr}^ seat in existence. It 
took eight years and four hundred and 
fift}^ workmen to complete this splendid 
establishment. The Prince of Palla- 
vicini built it because his wife had 
reproached him for doing nothing by 
which posterity might trace their passage 
through life. Thus, one da3^ he said to 
her: "I have done something. Come to 
see." They saw, and from that time 
thev staid at the villa. 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. IO5 

I would recommend some of the dishes, 
in the Genoese style such as ravioli, 
and tagliarifti. Ravioli, when well 
prepared, are the daintiest and most 
appetizing morsels imaginable. A dish 
of them sprinkled with good Chianti 
wine would make one feel the equal of a 
Rothschild. 

Genoa is not the most beautiful city in 
Italy, though the wealthiest, but I prefer 
it to all others on account of the many 
pleasant acquaintances I made there. Not 
long ago I visited a friend who is organist 
at the Church of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion. I cannot describe the power, nor 
the variety and beauty of the tone-colors, 
which can be produced upon the organ 
of this magnificent church. 

^Alexandre Guilmant, who inaugurated 
this instrument, recently told me that it 
was the best in Southern Europe. 

I spent a day at the sumptuous home 

♦See Observations of a Musician, p. 115. 
G 



I06 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

of a Genoa banker. Having expressed a 
desire to hear the viohnist Sivori, he was 
invited to dine with us. This celebrated 
virtuoso died a short time ago at the ad- 
vanced age of seventy-nine. He was the 
last pupil of Paganini, and a worthy dis- 
ciple was he of that master of masters ! 
The youthful verve and feeling with 
which Sivori played astonished me. His 
tone was perhaps a little rough, but he 
literally spoke through his violin. There 
has not lived a greater interpreter of 
melody. His playing of a tender, pathetic 
air always brought tears to the eyes of his 
listeners ; his own were often moist after 
such performance, and he avowed to me 
that he felt intensely moved whenever he 
played music of that character. *'Yes," 
said he, ' * I feel sad when playing such 
compositions. It is always a strain upon 
me. The grief I express with my violin 
impresses me as if it were real. I cannot 
help it." 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. lO/ 

When the artist himself is moved, then, 
and only then, does he make others feel the 
full power of his art. Certainly he should 
not allow his emotions to weaken or con- 
fuse his technique ; he ought to keep a 
warm heart with a cool head. This Si- 
vori did. In the performance of sonatas 
and concertos he combined with brilliancy 
and emotion : repose, dignity, majesty. 
With what pleasure I heard him play his 
own compositions ! 

There is a little anecdote concerning 
Sivori, which I do not think has ever ap- 
peared in print. I must begin by saying 
that Sivori's hand was extremely small, 
and he took especial delight and pride in 
the fact ; not, however, as a woman 
might, not from an aesthetic point of view 
(although his hand was as beautiful 
as it was little), but because its smallness 
entitled him to greater credit in the per- 
formance of passages requiring long 
fingers. I met him once at three differ- 



I08 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVltLER. 

eiit epochs and each time he said to me : 
**You think your hand is small, do you 
not ?" Then, placing his lingers between 
mine, he would show that his were half 
an inch shorter. The natural thing for 
me to say, which he always expected, 
was: "Maestro, it is miraculous that 
you should play tenths and even wider 
skips with such facility. What would 
you not have done had your hand been of 
normal size!" 

VI. 

The editor of the leading newspaper 
in Genoa, the Cajfaro, interviewed me 
on the New Orleans lynching,"'^ which, 
though stale to us, was intensely interest- 

* At the time of this interview the feehnp; against 
Americans was very bitter throng'hoiit Italy, and 
as I had expressed some opinions not too agreea- 
ble to Italian ears, it was with nnmixed pleasure 
that I reached the frontier the next morning at 
about the horn- when the Cajfaro's first edition 
was being placed upon the threshold of the homes 
of Genova la superba. 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. IO9 

ing to his readers, especially when treat- 
ed from an outside point of view. He 
wanted the opinion of an American — a 
novel thing for his public, as all previous 
accounts of this riot had been blackened 
with Italian prejudice. Here follows a 
translation of the interview, beginning in 
a somewhat rhapsodical style, a manner 
quite foreign to our matter-of-fact jour- 
nalists : 

*'A NORTH AMERICAN SPEAKS." 

Do you know, O readers, Louis Lom- 
bard ? Perhaps not, because you are not 
pupils of the Utica (New York) Conserv- 
atory of Music, of which he is director. 

You indefatigable travelers might have 
met him sometimes in Genoa, or in Con- 
stantinople, London, Paris, Jerusalem, 
Cairo, Berlin, Monte Carlo ; because, 
though others may have the habit of re- 
maining at one same place, he has that 
of moving all the time from one point of 
the earth to the other, except during the 



I lO OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

eight months of scholastic year at the 
Conservatory, which he conducts more 
through passion for art than for money. 

Now, with the hohdays hardly com- 
mencing, he leaves New York to return 
to our shores. Next week he will be in 
Barcelona, Madrid ; who knows but he 
will end at the Canary Islands ? 

Until now, what is that to you ; that a 
man should or should not travel, should 
leave or stay ? But to me, who knew him 
for many years, the information that my 
North American was in town became a 
momentous fact. No sooner did I learn 
that he was in Genoa that I set all my 
reporters on his track to tell him I wished 
to interview him. 

And my friend, when caught, submit- 
ted to the interview with admirable res- 
ignation and cold-bloodedness ; one is 
not a Yankee for nothing ! 

* ' You do not expect me to relate to 
you in detail the New Orleans affair .?" 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. I I I 

said he, for he had guessed that it was my 
preferred theme, though an abhorred one. 

'*I do not expect that, because I know 
already too well how things went, and 
with what indifference the matter was 
regarded by many of you." Then, I 
added : 

''At any rate, you Utican, though not 
Cato, you were too far from the scene to 
bear witness." 

"We cannot regard this as a national 
matter, and my state is particularly free 
from any responsibility in this deplorable 
affair. In the state of New York there 
are no lynchings. We regard states in 
which they occur as very different from 
ours." 

"Yes, these states are different, yet 
you are all united," I said. 

"Lynching," continued Lombard, who 
noticed that I was not disposed to let 
him digress, "is not practised against 
any particular nationality; it is frequently 



112 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

resorted to to redress wrongs that a cor- 
rupt or cov^ardly tribunal will not punish." 
Then he stressed upon the fact that all 
the lynched Italians except two were 
naturalized. 

*'If there had been but one," I said, 
"that would have sufficed to offend us." 

* * Granting this, you should know that 
the Government of the United States 
could not have claimed quicker redress 
for its own citizens than that which Italy 
can receive." And here my friend Louis 
explained that the Italian immigrant can 
be naturalized five years after landing; 
that he renounces his own country, and 
swears to defend the American Constitu- 
tion. 

''It served them rigiit," I came near 
saying, thinking of these renegades. Let 
me not proceed; they are dead and rc- 
(juicscant ! 

"Tell me, is it true that your state 
places especial obstacles in the way of 
Italian immigration T 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. I I 3 

" I am not aware that your country is 
singled out. Long before the lynching 
affair or any Mafia abuses, steps were 
taken to improve the existing conditions. 

"In New York we have had for a long 
time an inspector of immigration, whose 
duty is to ascertain the moral, mental, 
physical, and pecuniary condition of im- 
migrants, in order to prevent the helpless 
and criminal from landing, for such would 
surely become leeches upon our common- 
wealth. 

"This system has been in force many 
years, but it is quite probable that it 
exists sometimes only as a dead letter." 

Then I asked my friend: "Can you 
deny that since this New Orleans affair 
there has been a reaction against Italian 
immigration ?" 

"Yes, I can," answered he. "The se- 
vere restrictive measures which are being 
applied, are used just now against all na- 
tions indiscriminately. We are becoming 



I 14 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

more circumspect, whatever be the birth- 
place of the newcomer. And after all, 
I must avow to you that there are es- 
pecial reasons against your people. In 
the United States, unfortunately, Italy is 
represented by its lowest classes ; often 
by fanatics, felons, and others who would 
not be tolerated in their own country. 
While we have many intelligent and law- 
abiding Italians, these are greatly out- 
numbered by this rabble. I have no 
doubt that many Italians now in America 
would not dare to return home for fear 
of jail or of the guillotine." 

Then I asked what regions were repre- 
sented most. "The South, principally," 
answered the director. "And," he add- 
ed, *'you are represented by a most un- 
sympathetic lot ; by scavengers, peanut 
venders, hand-organ players, and the 
like." 

* * And our true artists, how are they 
received .?" 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. I I 5 

' * Very well, indeed. We cannot have 
too many of them." 

' * And our opera .?" 

''Ah!" exclaimed the musician, ''the 
old Italian opera is at a discount now, if 
not wholly eliminated. Wagner and the 
modern French school predominate to- 
day." 

' ' What are the favorite occupations of 
Italians .?" 

" Menial ones. Statistics might show 
a great number of miners. Then come 
those who work on railroads as laborers ; 
never as engineers, conductors, agents, or 
clerks. The number of Italian farmers is 
very limited. Many steamship compa- 
nies who incite emigration send laborers 
to help construct railroads. The price 
paid these men is lower than that which 
other nationalities demand. This ren- 
ders Italians odious to many, especially 
to the Poles and the Hungarians — their 
leading competitors." 



I 1 6 Ol'-SKKVATIONS Ol' A TRAVI':LHR. 

"Tell nic soincthing of your juries," I 
added, remarking that the main cause of 
the trouble in New Orleans was a jury 
suspected, justly or unjustly. 

' ' Our juries, " whispered he, ' * are com- 
posed of twelve men, who are occasion- 
ally selected from among citizens of ques- 
tionable character, men quite susceptible, 
at times, to the inllucnce of the mighty 
dollar. A jury is sometimes picked from 
a lazy class, because busy men find all 
kinds of excuses to escape jury duty." 

Then we returned to the original 
theme. 

' ' The ] eastern States, " said he, ' ' hard- 
ly recollect a case of lynching. This 
means of justice, though barbarous, hor- 
rible, and illegal, finds advocates in the 
South and in the Far West, particularly in 
our newer states. In the North we think 
that legal punishment educates men to 
respect the law, while lynching leads 
them into contempt for law. We do not 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. II7 

believe that a hundred citizens banded 
together, have any more moral right to 
kill than one single man could have, 
without legal process. It is strange that 
the old city of New^ Orleans should have 
given this sad example, and even more 
strange is the fact that those w^ho took 
part were representative men. Your 
Italian diplomats insisted on an imme- 
diate reparation, which, they should have 
known, was impossible, owing to the au- 
tonomy of our states. In similar cases, 
even for injuries upon native citizens, 
nothing more could be obtained through 
our Federal Government than will be 
granted yours. In America, we believe 
that the jury was bribed or intimidated, 
and from the bottom of his heart every 
good American regrets the sad and tragic 
event." 



I I 8 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 
VII. 

I am now in Florence, la gentile. 

" Where'er our charmed and wandering gaze we 

turn, 
Art, history, and tradition wait to claim 
Our deepest thought. Statues and marble groups 
Adorn the streets ; the very stones have tongues ; 
The holy fanes, the towers are eloquent." 

What can I add in praise of this city 1 
Were I the most gifted writer I could not 
do her justice. Such wealth and grace ! 
At every step one is dazzled at her splen- 
dor. It seems to me that the master- 
pieces of all times are in the "Tribune," 
a hall in the museum of Dei Uffizzi, 
which has been justly named: "The 
richest room in all the world." In 
sculpture there are the Dancing Faun, the 
Apollino, the Wrestlers, and La Venus de 
Medicis. Neither antiquity nor our own 
age has equaled this work. She is the 
Venus of Venuses. It might be said of 
this statue that if it is not alive, it is the 
will of God ; in form and facial expres- 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. II 9 

sion no being made of flesh could denote 
life more vividly. In painting, one sees 
in this same ''Tribune" some of the best 
works of Raffaelle, Van Dyck, Fra Bar- 
tolomeo, Correggio, Paolo Veronese, 
Michelangelo and Rubens. There are 
more marvelous creations in this sin- 
gle room than could be found in fifty 
museums. 

In the galleries of Florence, Raffaelle's 
works exist in such numbers that were 
the well-known Dresden Madonna in a 
Florentine gallery no extraordinary atten- 
tion would be attracted to this painting, 
which, in Dresden, being almost the only 
one of its kind, causes ecstatic admiration, 
especially among visitors who have not 
been in Florence. The theatrical effect 
sought by the arrangement of curtains in 
the room of the Dresden Museum, in 
which this Raffaelle Madonna is, may 
also artfully enhance the impression. 



120 OliSl'KVATIONS (>l< A TKAV1':LEK. 
VIll. 

The Count of Douvillc-Miiillcfcii, who 
is very well inforined in Kuro])oan affiiirs, 
told nie that the antagonism between the 
Governnicnt and the Roman Church was 
a nioc kcMy ; that the GovcMiinuMit was 
frieutlly, hut that it would be impolitic to 
avow this n\i;ard lor the Vatic^an. I can 
hardly rcHoneili^ this with tin; fact that 
the Mayor of Rome was discharged be- 
cause he called to pay his respects to the 
pope, upon the occasi(Mi of the liftieth 
anniversary of his ordination. 'Hiis inei- 
dent, by the way, gave rise to a witty 
repartei\ Heing informed that his wife 
had given birth to a boy, at about the 
hour when he recuMvcMJ his notification of 
dismissal from tlu^ CovcuimuMil, the 
Mayor exclainuHJ : •* Jc ctsst- (Vet re Diairc 
(ffit'rc) ijKdiiil ji' (/ci'irf.'s pc'rc /" 

Notwithstanding the serene aspect of 
relations which at moments seem to exist 
between pope and king, there still dwells 



KliMINISCIONCICS Ol' ITALY. 121 

the iricipiwssiblc S|)irit of doininalioii in 
tlic licart of the vaiKjiiisluul pontiff. 
Within the walls of Rome a great volcano 
is hidden, not extinct. ItvS eruption, how- 
evt;r, c^ould not do lastinj;' harm, thaidvS 
to the schools and the army which luive 
thoroughly Italiani;ied the few Romans 
who, twenty years ago, might have lent 
their sword to a [)apal (()///> d'clal . 

There is no more anti-Catholic, and I 
may add, anti-religious population, than 
that of Rome, and many say that tlu; rul- 
ing church is the cause. It is possible 
here that the principle, * * No man is great 
to his valet," may have something to do 
with the poi)e's want of prestige with his 
own peoi)le. h^imiliarity, perha[)s, in 
this as in many other cases, l)recMls con- 
tempt. Proximity, and the sight of 
bishops and cardinals who frequent the 
thoroughfares and restaurants of the Eter- 
nal City, may tend to lessen the respect 
that these dignitaries would inspire, when 
H 



122 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

viewed from a distance. The wisdom of 
the Arabian proverb, "Joke with a slave 
and he'll soon show his heels," is, I think, 
demonstrated here. 

The answer given me by a driver will 
indicate the state of mind of many Romans, 
as regards things which formerly would 
have filled their bosom with religious 
awe. One afternoon I drove to the Santa 
Scalinata, a church which can be entered 
only by ascending one flight of stairs on 
one's knees. Determined to see every- 
thing, I underwent the pilgrimage. I 
must confess that I tried to facilitate my 
ascent by placing my foot upon the steps 
as I was lifting my knee. For this I was 
severely reprimanded by a priest, whose 
business is to watch' the faithful mount 
in good form. * * If you do not want to go 
up on your knees," said he angrily in 
Italian, *'you will not be allowed to pro- 
ceed further." Pretending not to under- 
stand, I pursued the ' ' uneven " tenor of 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 1 23 

my way. Thereupon, the — what might I 
call him.? — '' step "-father gently took 
hold of my left foot and placed it upon 
the step, while, at the same time he 
shook his index vehemently from right to 
left in front of his red nose, which panto- 
mime meant: "77z^/ is wrong." Pretend- 
ing to be grateful for this, I begged his 
pardon with fitting gesticulations and con- 
tinued the painful journey with exclusive 
knee action. I actually forgot what I saw 
to repay me for my trouble, so anxious 
was I to return to my seat in the cab. 
Happily, one is not obliged to leave the 
building in this manner ; there is another 
stairway by which one is allowed the 
privilege to descend on foot. The driver 
was awaiting me at the door. Said I to 
him: <*You may go in, too. I'll watch 
the horse." To this he answered, with 
extravagant vocal modulations so com- 
mon to Italian plebs : ' * Thousand thanks ! 
I'd rather go ' a V inferno ' on foot than 
mount to heaven in that way !" 



124 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

IX. 

" Where all, save the spirit of man, is divine." 
I would echo willingly : *' Veder Na- 
poli e inorirT, could I forget the coarse- 
ness, cruelty, and immorality of the lower 
classes in Naples. There, disgusting and 
enchanting scenes mingle at every step. 
Inhuman drivers, even more inhuman 
than the Cairo donkey boys ; shameless 
females, depraved children, and dishon- 
est merchants thrive in that southern 
metropolis in greater numbers than else- 
where in Europe. The thought that 
these beings should inhabit a bountiful 
land of almost celestial splendor, is hard 
to reconcile, even with the simplest 
conceptions of justice. 

It is a common thing to see men en- 
joying the proverbial "sweet do nothing," 
while their wives, sisters, and daughters 
carry stones or drag carts. These wo- 
men are well built and healthy looking. 
Many are very beautiful before thirty, 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 1 25 

but after that age some of them resemble 
Macbeth's witches. 

Boys and men usually wear stockings 
and shoes ; women never do. I have 
seen barefooted women, young and old, 
make mortar, break stones in the road- 
w^ay, and carry heavily-loaded hods to 
the top of high buildings. In the place 
of horses, perhaps to spare these poor 
beasts, two girls of sixteen are often 
hitched to a wagon. In the meantime, 
the men smoke and play cards, if, as a 
diversion, they do not scold or beat the 
women. 

Once I saw a sturdy and over-fed fel- 
low rest his full weight upon the shoulder 
of his frail little wife while they were 
walking. The poor woman had a large 
bundle on her head, and was holding a 
child by the hand. The man was eating an 
orange. All this in a heavenly atmos- 
phere and a luxuriant garden inundated 
with sunshine. What contrasts in one 
picture ! 



126 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

And yet I believe that our American 
girl is rarely so content as the humblest 
Neapolitan. A canzonetta is ever upon 
the lips of the Italian maiden. For this 
I thank heaven. The cheerful song 
takes a load off the heart of the stranger. 
It tells him that the abject condition is 
not burdensome because this poor girl, 
unfortunate though she is, enjoys yet the 
blessings of ignorance : she is happy be- 
cause she knows of no better mode of life. 
Degradation and immorality have touched 
bottom under the fairest skies — in the 
land most favored by the gods. The 
plebeians of Naples are a living refutation 
to the fallacious assertion that the world is 
growing better. It is not necessary to 
have the pessimism of a Schopenhauer, 
in order to conclude that the modern 
vulgar inhabitants of that city have 
sunk to lower depths than the people of 
Herculaneum and Pompeii could have 
reached, even during the most corrupt 



REMINISCENCES OF ITALY. 12/ 

days of the Roman Empire. Our con- 
temporaneous type is more versed in 
hypocrisy, not morahty. 

Of course, I have attempted here to 
describe the glebes ascriptiis — those be- 
longing to the soil. Among intelligent 
Neapolitans the conditions of life do not 
differ materially from our own. 

From Rome to the Alps, higher types 
are found among the lower classes. As 
you approach Florence, you meet cleaner 
folk, and fewer beggars. And when you 
reach Genoa, you see clearly the distinc- 
tion that exists between northern and 
southern Italians. From the Alps to 
Etna, the social strata vary more than 
the physical. 

The depraved state of the lower classes 
of the South, may be due to the manner 
in which they were governed by their 
princes and kings before the Italian unity. 
The policy of these petty despots was to 
make these wretched people careless of 



128 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

the morrow, by keeping them in crass 
ignorance. And to complete the destruc- 
tion of their moral and intellectual facul- 
ties, the blackest fanaticism was fostered, 
while the ugliest religious practices were 
introduced. Then, as ever before, wily 
ecclesiasts and despotic rulers united for 
the subjugation of stupid humanity. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PORT SAID AND JOPPA. 
I. 

In Naples, I take a steamer bound for 
Egypt. It is six in the evening. A 
glorious sunshine still brightens the hori- 
zon as we sail into the incomparable bay. 
The sight I now behold will never be for- 
gotten. Upon the placid Mediterranean, 
with the picturesque islands of Capri and 
Ischia on the right, and the multicolored 
buildings of Naples on the left, in full 
sight of Herculaneum and Pompeii, slum- 
bering forever under the green and gentle 
slopes of treacherous Vesuvius, which, 
with his eternal crown of smoke, seems 
to boast of his infernal power — the most 
enchanting panorama unfolds, grows less, 
and finally disappears under a vast 
canopy of blue as Phoebus sinks the last 
quarter of his glowing disk into the Occi- 
dent. 



I 30 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

The next morning we were swiftly 
gliding through the narrow strait of Mes- 
sina, leaving on our right Mount Etna, 
Sicily's renowned volcano, and two days 
after we landed at Port Said, Egypt. 

At the Custom House, instead of a 
tedious examination, the officer simply 
asked me for backsheesh, (a gift) which I 
willingly gave to the amount of one piastre, 
(five cents,) and my baggage was allowed 
to be carried away without examination. 
Would it not be logical to believe that 
some Egyptian schools have given chairs 
to delinquent New York aldermen } 

The affairs of this government are mis- 
managed, ov/ing, say the English, to 
the opposition they encounter from the 
French and other Europeans, whenever 
they attempt to ameliorate the political 
situation. Can fair minded persons blame 
those who, prompted by the instinct of 
self-preservation, oppose England's rapa- 
cious policy by placing sticks in her 
wheels whenever they can } 



PORT SAID AND JOPPA. 13I 

II. 

The city of Port Said, which owes its 
origin to the Suez Canal, hes at the ex- 
tremity of a sandy and barren strip of 
land which separates a small lake from 
the Mediterranean. It stands at the 
mouth of De Lesseps' great canal, and 
derives its commerce chiefly from pas- 
sengers on their way to India or Aus- 
tralia, and as a coaling station. Its pop- 
ulation consists of twenty thousand souls, 
including six thousand Europeans. The 
architecture offers nothing new to one 
who has seen the hastily-put-together 
towns of Florida, but the natives supply 
all the novelty one's heart may long for. 
Dirty Arabs — dirtier even than Neapoli- 
tans — bask in the sun along the sandy 
streets. Men, women, and children 
crouched along the buildings among dogs, 
cats, goats, rags, coal, and wood, are 
heaped together in such a way as to puz- 
zle the observing tourist who wishes to 



132 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

distinguish the organic from the inor- 
ganic. Little ones, with pretty faces 
that never were washed, sleep on the 
public squares — quite unconcerned and 
happy — their eyes filled with flies. 

Nearly one-tenth of the Arabs suffer 
from diseases of the eyes, owing to their 
utter neglect of the simplest laws of 
hygiene. The lowest stages of poverty 
have been reached here, and the request 
for backsheesh is even more frequent than 
that for un soldo or un sigaro in Naples. 

All the water in the houses has to be 
carried from fountains, where, at all times, 
men and women can be seen filling dirty 
goat skins. Since witnessing the opera- 
tion, I have been thankful for being a 
disciple of Bacchus. 

The entire face of the female Moslems 
is never seen. They wear a garb re- 
sembling that of a nun, with the addition 
of a piece of metal placed upon the nose, 
and a long black veil with which they hide 



PORT SAID AND JOPPA. I 33 

their face at the approach of man, in 
obedience with a somewhat absurd order 
from their jealous husbands. 

Nearly all of the natives have a smatter- 
ing of French, Italian, and English, and 
those languages, mixed with their Arabic, 
form a most mcomprehensible jargon, 
which they babble out with astonishing 
rapidity. They never utter more than 
three consecutive words in the same 
tongue, and rarely use the proper syntax. 
They will say : ' ' No speak " for ' '■ I don't 
know," and ''Good night" for "I am 
glad to see you." 

Port Sai'd supports one Maroon Church. 
This sect is Roman Catholic, and differs 
from the Latin only owing to the fact 
that celibacy is not imposed upon its 
priests — a privilege some wise pope con- 
ceded to the Syrian prelates many centu- 
ries ago, and thus retained them under 
the jurisdiction of Rome. Leo XIII. 
simply pursues the policy of his predeces- 



134 orsi<:kvations oi- a traveler. 

sors by his political intrigues. In all 
times popes have been diplomats. 

I went to a kahiva {cafe) to see some 
Arabian j^^irls dance. A small square room, 
furnislicd with several broken-down chairs 
(vf })laite(l pahn twigs, four greasy tables, 
and a small bar, made up that favorite 
Oriental resort. In one corner, upon a 
ragged piece of straw matting, were 
crouched ballet and orchestra. After 
sipping a very small cup of imperfectly 
filtered Mocha, and paying my ten paras, 
(two cents) the strange performance 
began. 

To the nuisic of a nasal llageolet and a 
funnel-shaped drum, three young and 
well-formed women wiggled worm-like in 
endless contortions, while keeping time 
with the weird and monotonous melody, 
and adding to the orchestral coloring by 
clashing together small cymbals they held 
between thumb and index of each hand. 
Establishments that employ dancing girls 



PORT SAID AND JOPPA. I 35 

are becoming rare in Lower Egypt, and 
in consequence, snch places are usually 
crowded. Any one that has already 
found himself in a crowd of Arabs 
will readily conceive why I left at 
the end of the dance, vowing never to 
witness another. The stench that em- 
anated from the unsavory assemblage was 
so atrocious that I felt an uncontrolable 
desire to be fumigated before returning to 
my apartments. 

III. 

On the 20th of January I sailed for 
Joppa, the oldest seaport known, and the 
great landing-place of all pilgrims bound 
for Jerusalem. From remotest an- 
tiquity its harbor has been the objective 
point of innumerable vessels, although its 
approach is exceedingly dangerous, and 
always dreaded by seafaring men. No 
good-sized ship dares to come within one 
mile of its port because of the narrow- 
ness of its single rocky entrance. Pas- 



136 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

sengers and merchandise must be trans- 
ferred to the quay in small boats, and it 
occasionally happens that pilgrims are 
unable to disembark, owing to a heavy 
sea dashing among the frowning rocks 
that completely encircle its bay ; in such 
cases they are carried on to Beirut, two 
hundred miles beyond. 

Fortunately, the sea was very calm, 
and I was enabled to land. Strong boat- 
men climbed upon our steamer and took 
every one, willing or unwilling, into their 
canoes. I, like the rest, found myself 
lifted off my feet by a sturdy Bedouin, 
who gently slid me down and rowed me 
to the shore. 

Jaffa, of the French ; Yappa, of the 
Syrian ; or Joppa, of the Bible reader, 
proudly stands upon a rocky plateau that 
overhangs the dark blue waters, and, 
viewed from the sea, presents an enchant- 
ing picture with its many mosques and 
their pointed minarets, its snow white 



PORT SAID AND JOPPA. I 3/ 

and dome-roofed Arabian dwellings, 
perched high against a background of the 
purest azure, dotted here and there with 
fig and palm trees. 

Upon reaching Joppa's narrow, ill- 
paved, and filthy street lined with small 
booths, whence issue the foulest odors, 
one hardly requires the nostrils of a 
Sybarite to awaken from the dream into 
which his love for the picturesque has 
plunged him. ''A heaven to the eye, 
and a hell to the nose," thus has the 
Orient been described by a writer, per- 
haps inelegant, but, nevertheless, exact. 
Disappointment is invariably felt upon 
close proximity to Oriental cities and 
villages, while at a distance they uni- 
formly offer a beautiful view. 

Joppa has passed through fearful strug- 
gles. Pompey, Alexander, Saladin, Napo- 
leon, have each done her his share of harm. 
In 1799 the renowned French general 
ordered 4,000 of her citizens to be butch- 
I 



138 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

ered and, horrible to relate, they had sur- 
rendered themselves trusting in his promise 
of mercy. Here, this same bloodthirsty 
soldier caused four hundred of his own 
sick men to be poisoned, rather than 
abandon them to the revengeful enemy. 
It is difficult to pronounce a just judg- 
ment upon this latter action of Bona- 
parte, notwithstanding its abominable 
aspect. 

Joppa is interesting alike to Jew and 
Christian. From here Jonah fled to meet 
his well-known fate ; through here came 
the Lebanon cedars that served m the 
building of Solomon's fabulous temple ; 
in this locality lived, died, and lived again, 
Dorcas, the good woman, and Simon, the 
kind tanner, whose house is still shown. 

IV. 

On a bright Sunday afternoon I rode 
on horseback along a straight road lined 
with luxuriant orange and lemon groves, 
densely planted with trees bending down 
from the weight of their succulent fruits. 



PORT SAID AND JOPPA. 1 39 

After having traveled about one hour 
among these beautiful gardens, fenced in 
with impenetrable hedges of prickly pears, 
I found myself in the valley of Sharon, 
facing the hills of Judea. 

Along the stretch of thirty-six miles 
which lies between Joppa and Jerusalem, 
can be seen, at all seasons of the year, 
an almost unbroken chain of pilgrims — 
men and women of all ages, conditions, 
and nationalities, devoutly wending their 
way to their sacred destination. Jews, 
Christians, Mohammedans, all turn lan- 
guishing eyes towards the eastern horizon, 
where lies the great city, holy alike to all — 
towards Jerusalem. Consecrated by Sol- 
omon, Christ, and Mohammed, it is the 
noblest and most ignoble landmark of 
man's divinity and iniquity. 

Jerusalem, the cursed and the blessed, 
the sight of thy walls will ever awaken 
the deepest feelings ; all hearts must beat 
faster and in unison as they approach 
thy gates ! 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE MODERN PALESTINE. 



What other history can awaken more 
interest than that of the Holy City } 
Notwithstanding her present prostrate 
condition, Jerusalem still arrests the 
attention of thinking men. Here, at 
each moment, the breathing book of na- 
ture unfolds mysterious chapters, and 
now, as in the days of Solomon, a won- 
drous parchment unrolls itself before the 
historian. The capital of God's prom- 
ised land remains a field of inexhaustible 
attractiveness to the religious and skepti- 
cal alike, with her strange annals and 
awe-inspiring legends. 

Nine centuries before our era, began 
the decline of the Hebrew common- 
wealth. With the secession of the ten 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. I4I 

tribes, the decay of Palestine set in. 
From that time till now, Assyrians, Per- 
sians, Greeks, Romans, Turks, Crusad- 
ers, and others, have, each in their turn, 
stricken her without mercy. After three 
thousand years of bloody wars and bad 
government, the fair land of Canaan has 
become a naked, parched, and desolate 
vassal of the Sultan's Empire. 

Instead of the proud, dauntless, and 
unalloyed race that once gathered around 
her bubbling fountains, we meet to-day 
filthy and cringing beggars — mongrel 
types of Syrian, Arabic, and European 
admixture. 

The population of Jerusalem is pre- 
eminently cosmopolitan and her architec- 
ture truly kaleidoscopic; in fact, the only 
homogeneous feature about the Holy City 
is her revolting dirt. You no sooner enter 
Joppa's gate than the disgusting condi- 
tion assails your every sense. The 
narrow and indescribably filthy streets 



142 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

are paved with uneven and greasy 
stones, over which moves an unsavory 
mass of human beings, camels, don- 
keys, goats, dogs, and hens. In the walls 
are black holes in which fierce-eyed mer- 
chants guard a few pennies worth of 
shop-worn merchandise, the whole sug- 
gestive of hyenas in their caverns rather 
than men in their sandal or spice stores. 

II. 

Now and then you pass a temple 
erected around something or other that 
silly tradition has rendered sacred. The 
finest building is the Mosque of Omar, 
erected upon the site of Solomon's Tem- 
ple and around the Hanging Rock 
whence Mohammed ascended to heaven. 
The Koran records that the Prophet was 
taken away from Medina by an angel one 
night, while asleep beside his wife, and 
brought to the said rock, whence he as- 
cended heavenwards. Twenty minutes 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. 1 43 

after he was again lying by her side while re- 
lating his wonderful adventure. Owing to 
this legend Jerusalem became a second 
Mecca. Omar's Mosque contains some 
columns and ornaments from the famous 
Temple. Many Jews, Christians, and 
Mohammedans yearly undergo the hard- 
ships of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 
and with equal fervor these poor souls 
repair to their respective places of devo- 
tion ; to spots rendered sacred by the 
childish imagination of the people or 
through the cunning inventions of monks. 
A visit to the renowned landmarks of 
Judea has a tendency to efface the sol- 
emn impression made upon the mind by 
the reading of the Bible. Places that 
this book has described as grand, noble, 
and holy, become even to the faithful : 
small, ignoble, and unholy ; to others, 
subjects of derision. The doubts as to 
the exact theatre of this or that scene, 
and the daily contention over its authen- 



144 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

ticity among the various sects here, evoke 
feelings of veneration in inverse ratio 
with the reflective powers of the pilgrim. 
From the time of Christ's death to the 
early part of the fourth century existed a 
chasm in the history of Jerusalem, which 
theologians complacently bridged over 
with the fancies of Eusebius and Jerome. 
About the year 325, St. Helena came 
hither and built a basilica over the exact 
grounds where stood Mount Calvary, the 
tomb of Christ, the whipping post, the 
stone upon which He was anointed, the 
cistern containing the cross, and so on. 
Everything at its precise place, and en- 
circled within the walls of a cathedral of 
medium size. I should prefer to advance 
the opinion that the sacred relics and 
localities were selected to fit the architec- 
ture of the building, rather than allow 
such nonsense to pass unchallenged. 

Proofs of human gullibility can be 
found at every step throughout the land 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. 1 45 

of Israel. Footprints of Christ, Peter, 
and Mohammed are too common to be 
noticed, but marks of angels' fingers still 
attract the attention of some tourists. An 
appropriate pendant to Mohammed's rock 
is the plain near Jerusalem, over which, 
at Joshua's command, the sun ceased to 
move (.?). One is bewildered and does 
not know whether to laugh or weep at 
such absurdities, — symbols that perpet- 
uate superstition. 

III. 

The Jews still come to lament the loss 
of their paternal domain, where their na- 
tion reached the zenith of its glory. 
Every Friday, in a narrow alley called 
' ' The Jews' Wailing Place", they assem- 
ble to mourn over the decadence of their 
race. You cannot but be touched at 
the sight of these men and women weep- 
ing bitter tears while imploring the for- 
giveness of God. There is something 



146 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

sublime in the consistency of the Israel- 
ite character. Anathematized through- 
out the world during the past twenty cen- 
turies, God's chosen children still retain 
their hope in Him, and believe that His 
anger will be appeased, and that their 
former greatness will be restored to them. 
Such constant devotion finds no parallel 
in human history. 

More than half of the present popula- 
tion of the city is Hebrew, and the prin- 
cipal trades are in their hands. Turks 
do not hesitate to take severe measures 
against the peaceful invasion of the Jews. 
The Mohammedan theory of fatalism is 
proving its validity every day, and it is the 
current opinion among men versed in Ori- 
ental affairs that Jerusalem will soon 
change hands. Perhaps the sons of Israel 
have an interest in the matter. Qui 
vivra, verra ! 

IV. 

"Truth is occasionally recompensed and vice 
punished, exceptions which prove the rule." 

I was visiting the Holy Land in com- 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. 1 47 

pany with two Englishmen, three Ameri- 
can girls, and a family from Kansas City 
by the name of X. These persons, with 
the exception of Mrs. X. , seemed friendly 
to me ; they were, at least, invariably po- 
lite. But the Missouri lady did not seem 
to notice me. It was not exactly scorn 
that she felt, but I could plainly see that 
it was disdain. So much so that my two 
English friends, Messrs. B. and P., be- 
came aware' of this. It was annoying, 
especially as I knew I was to be frt w^ 
in this woman's society for the coming 
fortnight. Thereupon I resolved on an 
expedient to win common urbanity from 
her, and my subterfuge succeeded. 

One afternoon in Jericho three men 
met bent upon evil doing. They were 
Mr. B., Mr. P., and I. The conspiracy 
was to let Mrs. X. infer that I was a great 
author commissioned by the largest pub- 
lishing house in America to write a book 
of travels. This was to be done by drop- 



148 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

ping an occasional word about this hypo- 
thetical book within the lady's hearing, 
while, of course, assuming the air of 
candor wags alone can assume. On 
that evening, at dinner, her bow to me 
was especially formal, yea, freezing. 
It was the proverbial straw, and Mr. P. 
was encouraged to begin at once by say- 
ing to me : ' ' Why don't you print it in 
London.'*" I replied: ''Because, my 
dear Mr. P. , it is to my interest to have it 
published by those who pay me the most. " 
By this time Mrs. X. was thoroughly in- 
terested, for it should not be imagined 
that her disdain had removed her curi- 
osity; that were not human — femininely 
human, I would say. 

The next morning we were riding rap- 
idly towards Jerusalem. Mrs. X. was 
about twenty feet ahead of us. ''I'll 
give you two thousand pounds for your 
book," ejaculated Mr. P. "That is more, 
I am sure, than any New York house can 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. 1 49 

afford to offer you," added Mr. B. Sud- 
denly the speed of Mrs. X.'s horse was 
reduced. To any one not famihar with 
the circumstances, this change of gait 
would have been meaningless; but it al- 
most caused Mr. B. to fall off his horse, 
so funny did the whole situation appear 
to him. After regaining our composure, 
I said with all the dignity I could muster: 
'' Gentlemen, I beg of you not to speak 
to me again upon this subject. I have a 
contract, and I am satisfied with the New 
York arrangements. Were you to offer 
me ten times two thousand pounds it 
would not alter my decision. I am le- 
gally and morally bound." 

From that moment we did not speak 
again about the book. It was no longer 
necessary. The result had been attained. 
Kansas City was won. 

The next scene in this thrilling play 
was in the morning at the reading room 
of the hotel at Jerusalem. I got up ear- 



I 50 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

lier than usual in order to prepare the 
stage settings. That no doubt should re- 
main as to my being an author, I began 
surrounding myself with the parapherna- 
lia of a busy writer. I took the biggest 
table in the room, clipped at random nu- 
merous pieces from old newspapers, and 
with my guide-books and those of my 
friends thrown clumsily in a heap, I im- 
provised a work table adequate for Her- 
bert Spencer and Shakspeare combined — 
so far, at least, as appearances could go. 
Four pencils, a pair of scissors, and a 
bottle of mucilage completed the apothe- 
osis. Thus armed I laid low for my un- 
sophisticated victim. I had barely seated 
myself at the table than I heard a pleas- 
ant voice say: ''Good morning, Mr. Lom- 
bard." Whether or no it was a coinci- 
dence, the fact is that Mrs. X., too, had 
risen earlier than usual; evidently, how- 
ever, with different intentions from mine. 
''Good morning, madam," said I as po- 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. I 5 I 

litely as I could, though I did not Hft my 
pencil from the pad. Perhaps she feared 
to interrupt the flow of my precious 
thoughts, or perhaps she did not know 
how to ''break the ice," — in fine, she re- 
mained as mute as two oysters for two 
mortal minutes. Then she appeased her 
anguish and my own by saying in 
the meekest manner: ''I know you 
now ; you cannot hide your identity 
any longer. Of course you must pardon 
me if I have not been more communica- 
tive during these trips together. I be- 
lieve that so intelligent a man as you will 
not blame a woman for being particular 
about her associates. How do we know 
who the people are that we meet with a 
party of this kind ? Now, however, it is 
a different thing. I know who you are, 
and I also know that you are writing an 
interesting book of travels. What is the 
title going to be r 

' ' I am sorry, madam, " I answered, 



152 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

''but secrecy in the matter has been en- 
joined upon me. The title cannot be an- 
nounced before the work is pubHshed." 
"Yes," added Mrs. X., "but how will I 
know when the book appears if I don't 
know its name .? I wish to know because 
I want to buy at least a dozen copies to 
circulate among my friends. You see, it 
will be so much easier to do this than to 
take notes while traveling. Besides I 
could not describe as you can. We are 
traveling over the same ground and your 
book will suit exactly my own purpose. 
But now, (here Mrs. X. became espe- 
cially persuasive) my dear Mr. Lom- 
bard, promise me that you will not say 
anything mean about me or my family, 
won't you } You authors often write 
things so different from what you say in 
conversation !" With a majestic wave 
of the hand I assured her that nothing 
but praise could be written of so charm- 
ing a woman, but I did not tell her the 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. I 53 

title of the book. I simply said that I 
would inform her when it appeared. 

From that moment until I left Cook's 
party in Cairo, Mrs. X. was very courte- 
ous to me, even obsequiously so. I do not 
know how she would act to-day should 
we meet; she must be so tired awaiting 
that book. 

Many persons treat writers in this po- 
lite manner only when fearing to be un- 
favorably criticised. They act upon the 
wise advice given by a father to his son 
about to enter public life : ' ' My son, be 
kind to the newspaper man." 

V. 

How can a man be more suave than a 
Jerusalem merchant ? As you pass near 
his shop he invariably greets you with 
^ ' Naracsaid, Khawageh, " or ' * Good 
morning, sir," as your appearance may 
suggest, and, at the same time, he offers 
his hand, as if he had long known you. 
J 



154 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

When such a fellow first approached me 
I immediately fell into his trap, shook 
hands, and said a few pleasant things, all 
the while under the delusion that I had 
met him before. He at once began set- 
ting forth the superiority of his wares in 
glowing metaphors, and in a way 
worthy of a better store, but I soon 
stopped the flow of his panegyrics with 
the remark that I had left all my money 
in another pair of trousers, and made my 
escape. From that moment I resolved 
to abstain from courteous exchange of 
civilities with any shopkeeper. I learned 
that it was their custom to address all 
lookers-on in the same when-did-you-get- 
back manner. 

Most of the impecunious pilgrims who 
constantly flock here are from Russia. 
During thirty or forty years they deprive 
themselves of the bare necessaries of life 
for the sole purpose of kneeling once at 
the shrine of Christ. The remembrance 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. I 5 5 

of the deprivations they have undergone 
is often obhterated by the sufferings they 
must endure before reaching Mount 
Calvary. Packed like cattle in small and 
ill-ventilated vessels, they sail from some 
port on the Black Sea, and after weeks 
of torture are landed at Joppa. From 
the moment they arrive they start on foot 
toward the goal of their devout wishes. 

A Russian colony of some importance 
is clustered about Joppa's Gate, just be- 
yond the walls of Jerusalem. These set- 
tlers improve the country by working the 
land and building substantial houses. 
They organize powerful societies and 
make extensive purchases of real estate. 

The Russians have evidently come to 
stay, and their encroachments upon Turk- 
ish territory are viewed with unmixed 
favor at St. Petersburg. The Bear would 
like to secure a firm footing upon the 
shores of the Mediterranean, and his spies 
are lurking throughout the Levant with 



156 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

that exclusive object in view. If the 
other European powers ever become in- 
capable of preventing it, we may expect 
a Russian coup de main over Syria and 
Palestine. 

Since the last decade the majority of 
tourists has been composed of Ameri- 
cans. Among the European visitors, 
the English outnumber all others. Trav- 
elers of the best class usually go under 
the supervision of excursion managers. 
For a sum payable at an agency, may be 
secured a ticket entitling the holder to 
all the requirements of those who wish 
to ''do" the Holy Land, namely: a com- 
petent dragoman to conduct him to the 
noteworthy spots, and, when necessary, 
Kawwasses and Bedouins to protect him. 
Hotel accommodations not being avail- 
able everywhere, camping equipments 
and provisions will be carried by the ser- 
vants. These advantages should not be 
overlooked by those contemplating a trip 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. I 5/ 

to the Dead Sea, the River Jordan, or 
Mount Sinai". 

In civihzed lands, convicts are better 
quartered and fed than are guests in the 
average Oriental k/ian(hoteV). After spend- 
ing one week in the best hotel in Jerusalem, 
the members of our caravan found the 
agency's cheerful tents, neat bedding, and 
wholesome food as novel as delightful. 

VI. 

I dined one day with some French and 
Spanish prelates at the Mother Convent 
of the Franciscan Order. The table was 
excellent and the home-made wine very 
acceptable. Had I not been with Cook's 
party I would have taken room and board 
with the jovial monks. Catholics who go 
to Palestine always stay at Franciscan 
convents, when visiting Joppa, Ramleh, 
Ain Karim, Bethlehem, Acre, Nazareth, 
or Jerusalem. On Mount Carmel pilgrims 
are welcomed by barefooted Carmelites. 



158 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

Visitors always meet with a hearty re- 
ception, whatever be their creed. The 
monks are pleasant and educated men. 
Contrary to the statement of some malev- 
olent tourists, they never impose their 
devotions upon their guests. 

It is the custom for visitors, when leav- 
ing, to give a small sum of money to the 
Fathers ; about five francs per day is re- 
garded as adequate. Were I to return I 
should most certainly take lodgings in 
convents. 

An interesting American Society exists 
here. Some years ago a band of pilgrims 
left Chicago, to come here and await 
the return of Christ. From certain prop- 
ositions, comprehensible only to those 
" walking in the true light," they had de- 
duced the precise hour of his reappear- 
ance. Through some error in the calcu- 
lations, Christ did not appear. The sun 
ascended from behind the Mount of Olives 
and passed over the Tower of David with- 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. I 59 

out shedding its rays upon theDivine Man. 
At the time they could not ascertain the 
cause of their terrible disappointment. 
But Chicago people were not to be dis- 
concerted. Another careful perusal of 
the Bible was at once undertaken and 
their efforts were soon rewarded with the 
astounding discovery that their calcula- 
tions had been false. After weeks of un- 
tiring research, they unearthed the cor- 
rect date. How ? He alone knows ! 
Meanwhile, money due them at Chicago 
was withheld by their mean and skeptical 
relatives, who, supported by the opinion 
of the American Consul, successfully ar- 
gued mania, fantasia, derangement, ca- 
lenture of the brain, etc., etc. 

As the confraternity's time is occupied 
solely with praying and basking in the 
sunshine, its members naturally receive 
a compensation commensurate with their 
arduous toil. The sad fact must be men - 
tioned that about fifty per cent, of the 



l6o OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

faithful sheep have deserted the flock 
since the alarming news came that Chi- 
cago friends could legally clutch their 
personal funds. 

I met the thirteen remaining members 
at their neat and comfortable quarters 
and found them all urbane, intelligent, 
and well-informed ; well balanced on 
every thing but their queer hobby. 

VII. 

Every Arab is a beggar. The word 
backsheesh incessantly rings in the 
the visitor's ear during his sojourn in 
Jerusalem. No sooner can a child utter 
one syllable than it is trained to ask for 
backsheesh. Mere weaklings, yet in their 
mother's arm, will often be heard uncon- 
sciously muttering '''■ Usheea! UsheeaT 
The natives regard the alms they receive 
from travelers as their just due. They 
do not beg, but simply collect gate money. 
A very small gift will satisfy the most 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. l6l 

beggars; indeed, the donation of one 
Turkish piastre will raise the giver to the 
status of a Croesus in the estimation of 
the receiver. The reckless generosity of 
the man who gives two piastres is usually 
regarded as a sign of insanity. The ex- 
istence of this hypothesis in the minds 
of Arabs was made evident to me. I 
gave several copper coins to an old 
woman. She looked at me amazed, 
shaking her head, as if thinking: ''I am 
sorry ! He is so young, too. " And she went 
away without thanking me, so absorbed 
was she with the thought of my misfor- 
tune. 

VIII. 

The greater part of the area of Pales- 
tine is sterile. Sandy wastes and craggy 
hills meet the sight in all directions, and 
but for the narrow strips of cultivated 
land, which, at broad intervals, intersect 
the lifeless topography of the country,, 



1 62 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

one might conclude that the pursuit of 
agriculture has been wholly abandoned by 
the inhabitants. Nearly all the way be- 
tween Jerusalem and the Dead Sea the 
earth appears to have emerged from a 
terrible conflagration. The desolate as- 
pect becomes appalling from the moment 
the Greek Convent of Mar Saba is passed. 
For miles around the sea the soil has as- 
sumed a volcanic character, and neither 
a blade of grass nor a spray of lichen re- 
lieves the oppressed eye. The awful si- 
lence of the dismal environrrtent is never 
broken by the song of birds or the gur- 
gling of rills. All nature is wrapped in 
a black winding sheet. Low mounds of 
earth still mark the location of Sodom, 
and images of the doomed city, with its 
cursed inhabitants, unbidden, flit before 
the imagination. 

Toward the end of January, a few 
years ago, our caravan reached the Dead 
Sea, and as the thermometer registered 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. 1 63 

over ninety degrees Fahrenheit, many 
of us took a plunge in the salt and 
bitter waters of the huge caldron. 
Contrary to all expectation, we found 
the bath delightfully cool, and but 
for the fact that we could not sink, we 
might have believed ourselves at Bou- 
logne or at Brighton. 

I will relate one incident which those 
not accustomed to horseback riding will 
do well to remember, if ever they go 
there. We had ridden our horses during 
seven consecutive hours before reaching 
the water, and one of us, not prepared 
for such a long ride, was naturally feel- 
ing its unpleasant effects. Ignorant of 
his incapability of enjoying the peculiar 
properties of salt under such circum- 
stances, our friend dropped, lamb-like, 
into the sea. It were superfluous to add 
that he displayed due haste in returning 
ashore. Had he sat down upon a bunch 
of prickly pears, no greater want of com- 
posure could have been expected. 



1 64 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

On our way to the river Jordan we 
felt a disagreeable sensation from the 
clammy and salty matter which the 
evaporation of the water had left upon 
our skin. One hour after leaving the arid 
shores of the sea we were all made happy 
by washing off this greasy substance in the 
'^Eshsheriah, i. ^. / ' the watering-place. " 

The appearance of the much vaunted 
Jordan either must have undergone an as- 
tonishing metamorphosis, or its beauty 
has only existed in the minds of enthusi- 
astic narrators. Whatever the explana- 
tion, this most celebrated among rivers is 
to-day only a narrow and rapid stream of 
turbid water, with an uninteresting flora 
lining its muddy banks. 

IX. 

Russia needs a foothold upon the shores 
of the Mediterranean, and when the Bear 
is ready we may expect to see him pounce 
* Arabic name for the river Jordan. 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. 1 65 

upon Joppa. The Jews must not enter- 
tain the hope of regaining possession of 
Jerusalem during these times, because 
Asia Minor will be for many years to 
come in the hands of their avowed ene- 
mies, the Turks or the Russians. 

Some American and English utopists 
dream of colonizing the Holy Land, de- 
veloping its r^esources, Christianizing the 
Arabs, rebuilding Jerusalem, and so forth. 
If these men be possessed of the least 
patriotism they would better turn their at- 
tention to the fertile and uncultivated 
plains of the great West, or to the unde- 
veloped colonies of the British Empire. 
The advantages possible in many cities 
and regions over those of Jerusalem and 
Palestine, are obvious to minds free from 
fanaticism. That sincere Mohammedans 
can not be Christianized has often been 
proved, and that hypocrites can not be 
benefitted by a change of mask is self-ev- 
ident. Let the efforts of our missiona- 



1 66 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

ries be stored for home consumption. 
This desire to civiKze the Arabs may be 
wholly unselfish on the part of these men, 
for it is hardly probable that they intend 
to practise the subtle English art of fas- 
tening commercial fetters on unsophisti- 
cated natives under the pretense of spread- 
ing the gospel. These dreamers' venera- 
tion for the holy places may be noble, but 
a modern crusade, in this age of enlighten- 
ment, however venerable its object, how- 
ever humane its course, would only en- 
title its projectors to the derision of the 
world. 

The splendor of Jerusalem, and the 
thrilling phases in her history, were born 
of a spirit differing vastly from the one 
towards which mankind is advancing. To- 
day men are actuated by utility, not by 
faith. The torch of progress lights their 
way to nobler deeds than are recorded 
in the annals of the Land of Canaan. 
The vicissitudes of Jerusalem were the 



THE MODERN PALESTINE. 1 67 

outcome of religious dissensions, and, 
from the nature of things, the future his- 
tory of Solomon's capital will be less 
interesting than the past has been, be- 
cause conflicts must diminish in frequency 
and intensity as man approaches Civil- 
ization and her fair daughter Toleration. 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. 



At the mouth of the Golden Horn, the 
placid and picturesque harbor of Stam- 
boul (Constantinople), that most inter- 
esting city : 

"By Pontus' mouth upon the shore of Thrace," 
we lifted our anchor one mild February 
day, and steamed away into the Bosphorus, 
the renowned strait which unites the Black 
Sea with the Sea of Marmora and divides 
Asia from Europe. The average tempera- 
ture of the water was like that of the air, 
and this was as in summer. The climate of 
Constantinople is usually temperate, even 
during the winter months. The Bospho- 
rus was frozen only six times since the 
eighth century A. D. 

I was on my way to Vienna via the 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. 1 69 

Oriental Express, which awaited our 
steamer at the Bulgarian seaport of 
Varna, ninety miles away. The proprietor 
of the hotel in Constantinople had warned 
me not to go by that route before April. 
He described graphically the sufferings of 
some travelers who had just arrived from 
the Danube. Thinking he was stressing 
unduly upon these hardships to contrast 
them more effectively with the comforts 
of his house, I decided to follow my own 
inclinations, and I secured a berth upon 
the German Lloyd steamer which was to 
carry me to the railway station in Varna. 
If ever again I meet that landlord I shall 
apologize for my skepticism. 

The scenery along the entire Bospho- 
rus is indescribably beautiful. Nature 
and art have wedded to bring forth an 
earthly paradise. I cannot attempt to 
describe the marvelous panorama which 
dazzles the tourist who sails over this 
magic water-way. The mere recollec- 

K 



I 70 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

tion of the varied and charming scenes I 
beheld from the steamer, transports me 
into a sweet reverie and confuses my hap- 
less pen by the multiplicity, complexity, 
and splendor of the mental images it 
evokes. Along the north shore of the 
Golden Horn, Galata spreads out. This 
quarter of the city rises to the crest of 
the hill, and is crowned by a massive 
tower. Beyond and above Galata, Pera 
unfolds itself parallel with the shore. In 
Galata many Christians dwell; Pera is 
the seat of the diplomatic body. The 
larger part of Constantinople, with its 
forest of minarets, its numberless mosques, 
including the celebrated St. Sophia, and 
with the luxuriant gardens and graceful 
buildings of the Sultan's seraglio, is situ- 
ated on the south shore. On the right, 
across the narrow Bosphorus, expands 
Scutari — the Pere la Chaise of Stam- 
boul — a sad and solemn city of tombs, 
with its rows of cypresses so suggestive 
of tears. 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. I /I 
XL 

While the temperature may be warm 
and the weather fine upon the Bosphorus, 
it often happens that just beyond its 
mouth, in the Black Sea, a tempest is 
raging. Black Sea ! I shudder at the 
mention of that name, and with reason. 
The Black Sea, the Pontus Euximis of the 
ancients, is bounded on the west by the 
Turkish provinces of Rumilia, Bulgaria, 
and Moldavia ; on the north by South 
Russia ; on the east by the Russian prov- 
inces of Circassia and Transcaucasia ; 
and on the south by the Turkish provinces 
of 'Asia Minor. It is entered from the 
Mediterranean by the Dardanelles, the Sea 
of Marmora and the Bosphorus. The 
Greek navigators who first sailed over it 
were repulsed or massacred by some of 
the tribes inhabiting its coasts. Thus 
their countrymen named it the ' ' sea un- 
friendly to strangers," {Pontus Axenos.) 
Later, having established colonies along 



1/2 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

its shores, they changed the name to Eux- 
inus, (friendly.) The modern name 
was given it by the Turks, who found this 
sea, as I did to my ineffable discomfort, 
subject to sudden and violent storms, to 
a very variable temperature, and to thick 
fogs. I can convince any one that the 
epithet ' ' black " is not a misnomer for 
this treacherous body of water, tempest- 
torn by warring, chilling winds, which, 
uninterrupted by high mountain ranges, 
sweep down from the Arctic regions 
blowing over the snow-filled and ice- 
bound steppes of Russia. The north- 
ern shores are often blockaded with ice 
during the winter, especially where the 
water is shallow, and contains less salt, 
as at the entrance of rivers. This sea is 
noted for the rapidity with which fright- 
ful storms arise, often to subside again as 
rapidly. I did not know of these ugly 
characteristics, or I would not have left 
Constantinople, at least, by that road. 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. I 73 

Had I had the shghtest intimation of 
what the Black Sea had in store for me, I 
would rather have forsaken fortune, home, 
friends, country, and even embraced the 
faith of Mohammed with its worldly eth- 
ics. Now I might be exclaiming from 
the top of some white and slender mina- 

A _ A ^ A 

ret : * ^La ilaha iWA Hah, wa Muhammedu- 
rrasul-A llah\ ( ' 'There is no God but Allah, 
and Mohammed is His prophet.") Who 
knows ? 

III. 

The Bosphorus was so calm that, when 
evening came, I could not remember hav- 
ing felt the motion of our little steamer. 
The air was so balmy, and the afternoon 
had passed away so dreamily in the 
charms of the present and the blissful ig- 
norance of the future ! At six, just as we 
reached the lighthouse at the end of the 
Bosphorus, the captain brought our ship 
to a dead stop, and invited us to the din- 



174 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

ing-room where dinner was served. Dur- 
ing that meal many passengers complained 
about stopping for dinner. Almost every 
one agreed that the captain was a fool to 
make us lose that time. Now, I bless 
that captain. Without his precaution, I 
would have had to seek on the ceiling the 
olives and caviar, served as first hoi^s d' 
ceuvres, supposing that I should have re- 
tained the least vestige of an appetite 
while the ship was up-side down. 

At the table, I met an accomplished 
and pretty little woman, the Baroness 
Blanc, nee Terry, of New York, whose 
husband was Italian Ambassador to Tur- 
key ; now he is a member of the Italian 
Cabinet. 

The food and wines were good, the 
company agreeable, and an hour was 
spent delightfully. See the reverse of 
the medal. We had relished our meal. 
Brrrr ! ! when I think of it ! At about 
seven o'clock we were drowsily sipping 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. 1/5 

some brandy and coffee from tiny Turkish 
cups when the factotum, our captain, 
a^ain said something which added mark- 
edly to his unpopularity. ' ' Ladies and 
gentlemen," said he, with a sardonic 
smile, " I would advise you to go to your 
berths ; we are about to start." 

' ' Does he think we are children .^" in- 
dignantly exclaimed a handsome English 
blonde. 

'' I shall report the conduct of this im- 
pudent fellow at the Vienna office !" added 
a military-looking Austrian. Other similar 
expressions of annoyance, disgust, con- 
tempt, and hate, were applied to this naval 
busybody, and from one end of the table to 
the other, soWo voce, anathemas in Asiatic 
and European tongues were hurled at 
him. 

Of course, very few passengers followed 
the captain's advice, which L character- 
ized as arrogant and useless. Now, I 
think it was practical and benign. I had 



176 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

stubbornly placed myself near the stove, 
with the intention of staying away from 
my berth as long as I wanted, captain or 
no captain. At precisely a quarter after 
seven, the order to steam away rang 
above, and two minutes after, I was mak- 
ing a diagonal bee-line for the other end 
of the dining-room. I cannot remember 
where I landed, either objectively or sub- 
jectively. One thing I knew, we had 
just entered the seething, foaming, furi- 
ous, tempestuous Black Sea. 

IV. 

From that memorable moment, and for 
thirty-six mortal hours, (I was about to 
write, centuries,) our ship was shaken by 
the waves as a rat-terrier would shake a 
mouse; the difference in our case being 
that there was no intermission to the 
frightful turbulence. Now we would feel 
a slight tremor, then a jar, a quiver, and 
again for the millionth time a monstrous 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. 1 7/ 

wave would strike the deck as if to crush 
it into atoms. Each of those billows 
seemed to weigh a hundred tons, and as 
it struck our deck it sounded like the ex- 
plosion of a dynamite factory. During 
the oscillations of our steamer, caused by 
the terrible blows from these water claw- 
hammers, the wood-work would crack as 
if to break asunder. The pandemonium 
caused by the unchained elements was 
not all that split our aching ears. In ad- 
dition, I had to listen to these wailings 
from children and women: ''Oh! Hea- 
ven ! we'll never see home again. '' Ma ! 
Ah ! I am so sick !" "George ! George ! 
Alas ! Why did we ever leave mother .''" 
' * Captain, will we ever reach Varna ? 
Hee ! Hee ! !" 

Thus, for thirty-six hours, while I clung 
to the bench, which, fortunately, was 
made fast to the partition, I endured the 
whole catalogue of physical and mental 
pains : thirst, hunger, cold, headache, 



178 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

nausea, fatigue, despair, disgust, anger, 
remorse, fear, and .... several others. 
I reviewed my past, and felt disappointed 
at its worthlessness. But there is an end 
to everything and, more dead than alive, 
I reached the coast of Bulgaria. 

The day before we were breathing in 
the soft clime of the East, in the land of 
the sun ; now, we shivered under our 
thickest winter clothing. The rigging of 
our ship was one mass of icicles and the 
deck was covered with ten inches of snow. 
It is fortunate that we were not out 
much longer, for I do not think I could 
have lived another day under such horri- 
ble circumstances. A tall and strong 
Englishman, a dear old friend of mine, 
gently tucked me under his overcoat and 
carried me like a valise to our railway 
carriage, which stood but a few rods from 
the landing. 

' * How frozen and how faint I then became 

' ' Ask me not, reader ! for I write it not 

' ' Since words would fail to tell thee of my state. 

" I was not dead nor living." 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. 1/9 

And this was the result of what is 
called pleasure travel. 

The stormy blast of hell with restless 
fury cannot be worse than the Black Sea. 
The only difference is one of taste : it 
is between burning and freezing. In 
so far as the other varieties of agony 
which these two places offer, or are sup- 
posed to offer, there is but small choice. 
Had I to decide between these two realms 
of sorrow, I think I would select the un- 
explored one — first, because I am so fond 
of traveling ; second, because until the 
last moment I could enjoy my doubts 
about the tortures of the other place, while 
I am convinced of the malignity of the 
Black Sea. 



We traveled by rail all that night, and 
arrived in the dismal city of Rustchuk at 
the other end of Bulgaria — the most for- 
lorn country I have ever traversed, not 
excepting Canada. 



I 80 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

Along the coast there are many mon- 
grel types called Gagaous. The real Bul- 
garians look down upon them, I am told, 
and I fail to see why. It is the chimney- 
sweep scorning the scavenger. The Bul- 
garians sprang from the Finnish. Like 
their ancestors, they have light, thin hair; 
eyelids half open; high cheekbones; the 
face is frequently oval, the complexion 
coarse, the expression harsh, and their 
manners are anything but elegant. Their 
unmusical language is fundamentally Sla- 
vonic and mixed with Turkish and Per- 
sian. Although it contains a consider- 
able amount of Greek and Latin, I was not 
able to understand one word while in that 
dreary land. 

After resting one day and one night in 
a miserable hovel, the leading hotel of 
Rustchuk — hear that mellifluous name ! — 
I started to cross the Danube, whose 
*' beautiful blue " had turned into a 
cheerless gray, perhaps for my especial 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. l8l 

delectation. Large lumps of ice here, 
and an uneven frozen surface there, ex- 
tended over the river for two or three 
hundred yards. Had it reached the opposite 
bank it would not have been so unpleasant. 
We could have crossed on foot in a 
straight line, and saved much time while 
avoiding further discomfort. As it was, 
we had to walk on the ice until the water's 
edge, then take a canoe to reach the next 
frozen point. After walking again over 
the slippery way we had to bargain with 
dishonest boatmen who, knowing our pre- 
dicament, took advantage of us, and 
charged exhorbitant fees to carry us be- 
yond. With the temperature below zero, 
we changed boats four times and walked 
uninterruptedly over the ice for five 
hours to cross this ' ^ beautiful blue" Dan- 
ube. 

In Bucharest, Roumania, I found the 
best hotel I had seen since leaving Na- 
ples for the Orient, some months before. 



1 82 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

It is possible that the hostelry seemed 
better than it was on account of the in- 
conveniences I had suffered in Bedouin 
tents, Egyptian Khans, and Greek inns. 
The manager of this pretty, though small, 
establishment was formerly the king's 
cook. Some wealthy Roumanians in- 
duced him to give up the royal appoint- 
ment, that they might have a sort of 
club-house where Parisian dinners could 
be had. The gilded youths of Roumania 
are generally educated in Paris ; they 
speak French, and cultivate French 
tastes. Bucharest is a lovely city. One 
is startled to find such grace and re- 
finement so far from the beaten paths of 
travel. 

From Bucharest I went to Buda-Pesth, 
where I saw a splendid performance of 
Verdi's ^'Othello." Thence I left for 
Vienna, reaching the gay Austrian capi- 
tal, the other Paris of the world, in time 
to attend the performance of Goldmark's 



FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO VIENNA. 1 83 

* ' Queen of Sheba, " at the Royal Opera 
House, under the direction of Goldmark 
himself. The ensemble was perfect. 
After the opera in Paris, that in Vienna 
satisfies most. Neither Milan nor Dres- 
den can answer so fully the demands of 
the fastidious auditor. 



CHAPTER XL 

INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 



I had bought a large and handsome 
trunk just before leaving Paris for Swit- 
zerland. It was covered with glistening 
brass buttons and steel corner pieces. A 
magnificent strap encircled it. Imme- 
diately after purchasing it I became sorry. 
It was so large ! I had absolutely no use 
for it, having already two other trunks. 
However, I had to take it along. At the 
time, I did not dream that this unwise 
purchase could be turned to good account. 
Next morning I arrived in Geneva. Hav- 
ing slept in an easy chair through the 
night I must have looked haggard and 
worn. First-class carriages in most Eu- 
ropean trains contain no lavatories, and 
my face and hands were soiled with cin- 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. I 85 

ders and dust. My slouch hat and 
wrinkled coat added to my disreputable 
appearance. As I approached the hotel, 
its manager came to greet me upon the 
steps. Said I in English : ''1 would like 
to get a room fronting the lake." In- 
stead of answering, he looked me over with 
a suspecting eye and hesitated. Quicker 
than it takes to write it, I surmised the 
cause of this cold reception. My disar- 
ranged clothing and generally careless ap- 
pearance had led him to conclude I was 
not a desirable guest for the first hotel in 
Geneva. But my trunk had not been pur- 
chased in vain. It gave me character. 
The porter who had handled the volumin- 
ous Saratoga — my only passport — under- 
stood the situation at once, and exclaimed 
from the top of the omnibus : — 

^^ Monsieur est tres conime il faut^''' 
while waving his hand, as much as to say: 
^'He's all right." 

Then there was no end of salutations, 

L 



I 86 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

and I was ushered into the best room 
facing the lake. 

II. 

On the Continent it is not customary to 

go to table d'hote in full dress. Many 
Americans do not know this. At the 
Grand Hotel in Naples at dinner, was 
seated on my right Princess Margherita, 
next to her her husband. Facing me, were 
two persons dressed, to use a colloquialism, 
''to kill." The woman wore a decolette 
gown, probably made by Worth; he was in 
dress suit that fitted him like a glove. 
Both were bedecked with jewels. In 
marked contrast the Prince and Princess 
wore their everyday clothes, and these 
were of the most modest fashion. Eng- 
lish was the language spoken by all at the 
table, as is often the case in first-class 
hotels on the Continent. The natives 
who travel in their own country, do not 
usually go to the best hotels. It would 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 1 8/ 

be quite safe to speak Italian at a hotel 
of this character, without fearing to be 
understood. The Princess, not believing 
I could understand her, as I had been 
speaking English to some ladies on my 
left, whispered to her husband in Italian : 

' ' Prince, who is this noble Lord with 
his Lady facing us .? " 

The Prince answered : ' ' I recollect 
having seen him while visiting the United 
States ; he is a codfish merchant." 

**Well," retorted the Princess, ''you 
know, dear, how I dislike codfish. Now I 
shall surely hate it." 

III. 

With two English friends we had de- 
cided to visit Corinth. It was necessary 
to hire a carriage and a courier, in order to 
do so, from Athens, where we were. Our 
landlord,* from whom I had asked inform- 
ation in relation to that trip, sent a cou- 
rier to my room, who said to me : 



1 88 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

' ' I will furnish the conveyance, the 
food, the wines, and guide you and these 
two gentlemen for one hundred francs a 
day each, and," he added in an undertone 
close to my ear, ''the one hundred francs 
I will charge for you, you can put in your 
own pocket, — see ? " 

He had taken me for the courier of my 
friends. The fellow felt quite abashed 
when I told him we would accept his 
terms of two hundred francs a day for the 
three, but that I would pay my own share 
as I was not a courier. 

IV. 

I had an experience almost similar to 
this in Paris a few months after. Some 
lady friends from Brooklyn had asked, me 
to secure a box for them at the Grand 
Opera. We went together to one of the 
stores facing the opera house, where the- 
atre seats and boxes are sold. The clerk 
had heard me speak English with these 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 189 

ladies and had seen them hand me their 
pocketbook from which to pay for their 
box. When I inquired the price of the 
box he answered : ' 'One hundred and sixty 
francs." Then he softly said to me : 

''The sixty francs, you know, are for 
you." 

This time I did not wish to humiliat 
the fellow, but wanting to carry the 
joke further I said to him in French : 

"Please give me a receipt for the one 
hundred and sixty francs, because I have 
to account lor everything I pay out." 

I counted out to him the one hundred 
and sixty francs, got my receipt, and as I 
was leaving the store, he slyly handed 
me sixty francs in gold and said : 

" I hope you will bring us many more 
of these pigeons." 

My friends were astounded when I gave 
them back their sixty francs and told 
them how near they came to being 
plumed. It is needless to say I had 



190 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

again been taken for one of those dishon- 
est couriers who receive a daily fee for 
showing you the sights and who yet ex- 
ploit you at every step. 



The Hungarians hate the Austrians. 
I'hey will not even speak German, though 
able to do so. One day I lost my way in 
Buda-Pesth, and I asked an intelligent 
looking fellow in German : 

''Where is the Grand Hotel.?" 

He looked at me scornfully and ex- 
claimed something angrily in Hungarian. 
I did not understand the words, but from 
his physiognomy, the shrugging of his 
shoulders, and the modulation of his 
voice, I drew the inference that he meant: 
''I will not tell you." 

And I was quite right. Upon return- 
ing to the hotel I told this to the pro- 
prietor, who said to me : 

''The fellow understood you very well. 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. I9I 

He was a Hungarian, and, taking you 
for a German, disdained to answer you." 

VI. 

On my way to Naples in the same rail- 
way compartment was a well-known 
American sculptor and wife, who, by the 
way, was old enough to be his mother-in- 
law. She stepped out of the carriage at 
a station to see if there was a good din- 
ing-room, and finding a satisfactory one, 
she beckoned to her husband. A man in 
our compartment, thinking that our sculp- 
tor had not seen the lady's motions, said 
to him : 

' ' Pardon me, sir ; but your mother is 
beckoning to you." 

''The lady is my wife, sir !" retorted 
the artist, in a tone that in itself told 
volumes. 

Tableau ! 

VII. 

Walking about the streets of Bologna, 



192 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

I met an intelligent boy of twenty whom 
I asked to show me the way to the uni- 
versity. He, too, was going there, said 
he, as he was a student. We had not 
chatted long before he knew that I came 
from America. Learning this, he asked: 

' ' Do you know my brother ? His name 
is Giovanni Salvatore." 

' ' Well, " said I, ^ ' I don't know. Where 
does he live r 

'' He is in Montevideo." 

" No," answered I, which disappointed 
him greatly. 

VIII. 

This is not an unusual occurrence in 
Europe. The ignorance concerning 
America and American things is at times 
appalling. I remember a well-educated 
man who was astonished when I told him 
that Chicago was not in Harlem. He 
thought it was one of the suburbs of New 
York. Of course he did not intend to joke 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 1 93 

about the Windy City, but my informa- 
tion caused him to give up the intention 
of visiting the Exposition. Europeans 
should not be expected to know as much 
about America as Americans should know 
about Europe, for, no doubt, there is 
more on the other side that should be 
known. What do we Americans, for ex- 
ample, know of India, of Australia, and 
even of South America ? However, I think 
that Europeans could benefit greatly by 
studying our country and, particularly, 
by copying our business systems. It is 
heart-rending to any one accustomed to 
the rapid way in which commercial trans- 
actions are carried on here, to find him- 
self obliged to go through the red tape of 
Europe for the simplest affairs. 

IX. 

Having been in the United States only 
a few days and not having studied Eng- 
lish before coming to America, I knew 



194 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

but a few words of that language. At a 
hotel table a woman seated near me 
asked me : 

*'Are you hungry to-day .?" 

*'No, madam," answered I, with the 
proudest air I could assume, ' ' I am 
French." 

'^ Hongrois,'" in French means Hun- 
garian. I misunderstood her question 
and thought it referred to my nationality. 
Those who heard me, of course, smiled ; 
some even laughed. Had I appreciated 
the cause of the merriment, I, too, would 
have enjoyed the situation, though at my 
expense. At that moment, however, my 
national pride was wounded, for I thought 
these horrid Americans had insult- 
ed my nation by their laughter. 
Could I have been able to express myself 
in English, I would have told them vol- 
umes about Gaul's greatness, about Char- 
lemagne, about Napoleon. 

Luckily I foundno words for utterance. 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 1 95 

though I was bursting with stirred feehngs 
and burning thoughts. Two weeks later, 
while studying English, I chanced upon 
the verb ' * to be hungry. " This was the 
key to my recent dilemma, and then, even 
at that late hour I, too, laughed heartily. 



About that time, while I was at a desk 
writing, some one asked to borrow my 
pen-holder. I immediately passed the 
rack which held the pen-holders. My in- 
terlocutor smiled and said : ' ' This is not 
a pen-holder." But I could not see why 
until he explained, for to me it was evi- 
dent that this rack was ''holding" pens, 
and therefore was a ''pen-holder." This 
conclusion was certainly not wholly illog- 
ical. When guessing at the meaning of 
words or phrases, one is often deceived ; 
while some analogies in sound, etymol- 
ogy, or construction may help the guesser, 
they also often lead him to incorrect de- 
ductions. 



196 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 
XI. 

Guides, hotel servants, and others, 
whose employment brings them in contact 
with the traveling public- in Europe, are 
acquainted with the language of tourists 
only to the extent of the limited vocabu- 
lary essential in the pursuit of their 
occupations. Ask a cicerone whose 
life is spent guiding visitors through 
one cathedral : ' ' What comes after 
the salad .?" and he will probably 
answer, " Noddin', dees catedral is 
all." On the other hand, if you say to 
your waiter : ''What is the most impor- 
tant building in town V he will be quite 
apt to reply : ' ' Omelette an rhuni. " 

In Lyons, while dining with some 
American acquaintances, we decided to 
go to the theatre that evening. We had 
just finished the soup. Turning to the 
waiter, I said in English : * ' What is the 
best entertamment we can go to this 
evening.?" ''Salmon," answered he. 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 1 97 

thinking I had asked about the next 
course. 

XII. 

A young woman, who was not blessed 
with the knowledge of her own igno- 
rance, was boasting that she understood 
Italian perfectly. Some one asked her 
to translate the sentence, ''QuelV amore, 
qiieir affeto. " (This love, this affection. ) 
And she, guided by the similarity in sound 
and by her unbounded presumption, 
promptly answered : 

''Why, this is easy enough. It means 
' quell your love, quell your affection." 

XIII. 

I had been in Germany less than a 
month. One day, in Nuremberg, I de- 
cided to take an early train next morning. 
Calling the porter of the hotel, I said in 
the purest Hanoverian accent I could 
command : 



1 98 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

^^Porttery M or gen muss ich inn filnf 
*■ wachsen. ' " 

Which meant ' '■ To-morrow at five I 
must 'grow.'" I had intended to say, 
^ erwachen\ (wake up) instead of grow. 
As my stature is very short, the reader 
can imagine how ludicrous my remark 
sounded. 

After reaching my room, the intended 
verb came to me, and I looked over the 
balustrade to note the effect of my error. 
Down stairs I saw eight or ten men con- 
vulsed with laughter, while the porter 
was referring to my height by holding 
the flat of his hand about three feet above 
the floor, and remarking : ' ' Of course, he 
should grow. " 

XIV. 

An American girl asked a German doc- 
tor, * ' What do you think of my German .!''' 
*' Mees," he retorted, '' I ding you speek 
peutifully — and I am not flirting,'' (flat- 
tering. ) 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 1 99 

XV. 

In Philadelphia I had lost my way. I 
asked a foreigner who happened to be 
passing: ''Where is Chestnut street, 
please .-*" Thinking I wanted to know 
the hour he pulled out his watch and said 
' ' Tree o'cloack an a 'alf . " 

XVI. 

In French ' ' un pett " means either ' 'a 
little," or *'a few." Should you ask a 
Frenchman if he speaks English, do not 
wonder if five times in ten he answers: 
' ' A few. " Most English people pro- 
nounce the syllable * ' eu " as if it were 
written ' ' oo. " Thus ' ' un poo " (poii) 
would sound in French like the name 
given to the small, white parasite sci- 
entifically known as the ^^ pediculus 
capitis.'' The majority of Americans, 
when asked if they speak French, usually 
answer: *' C/i^ pou.'' The apprehension 
of the effect this produces upon the ear 



200 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

of a Frenchman is left to the imagin- 
ation of the reader. 

XVII. 

With some German artists I had attended 
a concert given for the benefit of patients 
at a prominent hospital for the insane. 
The superintendent invited us to a little 
luncheon after the performance. Ger- 
man was the language of the occasion. 
I was then beginning my studies in that 
tongue. It is a rule that those who 
know the least about a thing are most 
anxious to display their little knowl- 
edge. During the luncheon I seized 
an opportunity that will prove this rule. 
Every one at the table had said some- 
thing, but I had been silent, not being 
able to recall a sentence, however 
short, that might be regarded as perti- 
nent. Suddenly, as an inspiration, some- 
thing came to me that I regarded as most 
fitting. I had just concluded eating, and 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE 201 

wishing to excuse myself from the table, 
I calmly said, ^' Entschiildigeji sie mich 
meine H err en, ich bin ^verriickt'." "Ex- 
cuse me, gentlemen, I am 'crazy.'") 
' * Vertig,'" (finished) was the word I should 
have used. The superintendent very po- 
litely and without so much as a smile 
upon his lips, expressed the greatest so- 
licitude for me, and offered to reserve 
a good room. Then he explained to me 
my mistake. It goes without saying that 
much fun was had out of this slip of my 
tongue. 



M 



CHAPTER XII. 

HAPPINESS VERSUS TRAVEL. 

"Fixed to no spot is happiness sincere, 
'Tis nowhere to be found, or any where." 

On a pleasure tour through Europe and 
the Orient, if one have the power to cast 
aside all business and social preoccupa- 
tions, and that sure destroyer of human 
blessings — ambition — it becomes quite 
possible to reach a state akin to content- 
ment, if not to happiness. Abroad, the 
active American breathes the balmy air of 
a quiet art-life, something new and re- 
creating to him. Travel, notwithstand- 
ing its worries and discomforts, affords 
him a more refined existence than the 
hum-drum of the daily routine at home. 
If far from the bee-hive called America, 
no ominous commercial cloud appears to 
darken his sky, he may revel, undisturbed, 
in many tangible pleasures, and in the 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 203 

charms of his imagination, sensations and 
and perceptions unknown to him in the 
vortex of his transatlantic affairs. Of 
course he must give up the eternal hope 
of augmenting his material possessions ; 
in fact he has to diminish them with 
good grace. As a compensation, 
he may gather in his mental coffers a 
treasure more precious than gold : the 
knowledge of human nature. This, with 
the realization of his own insignificance 
and the true appreciation of the narrow- 
ness of his world of action, may serve to 
make his future intellectual life of more 
value to himself and fellow men. He 
will thus be better prepared to recognize 
the truth, whatever be its cloak. 

Vivid pleasures are not found in the 
whirl of travel. Though amidst changing 
scenes, one feels satisfied, not joyous. 
The days flow placidly in the contempla- 
tion of dream-like realities. You drink 
copiously in the beautifully-wrought wis- 



204 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

dom-cup v/hich Dame Nature daintily 
serves. Going from country to country, 
while observing at every hour some new 
and striking fact, quenches the thirst for 
knowledge with an invigorating beverage. 
Some travel merely that they may be able 
to say they have traveled ; others, more 
serious, do so that they may read many 
pages in the infinite book of life. And 
these students cannot see much without 
remembering much ; there could be for 
them no deeper fountain of learning. 
Men, in the boundless fields of their en- 
deavours, and with their strongly-contrast- 
ed racial and national traits, appear to 
the bewildered tourist as if moving in a 
vast kaleidoscope. The art, the litera- 
ture, the politics, the ethics, and the 
commerce of other nations, all become 
potent teachers. The more uncommon 
the precept, and the more eccentric the 
example, the deeper the impression. 
In his wildest imaginings, no novelist 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 205 

could invent that which may be observed 
aimost at every step. These dissolving 
views, reproduced from nature, at times 
are so odd, outlandish, wonderful, as to 
seem indeed stranger than fiction. Yet 
it is the same human heart and the same 
Mother Earth, though aspects may be 
ever so varied. 



Can one find happiness in these pere- 
grinations ? He who seeks it there is a 
fool or a child. 'Tis the rainbow in the 
ever-receding horizon which baby fingers 
would touch. No ! There cannot be bliss 
even for the most favored of travelers ; 
what would have been the use of invent- 
ing a paradise if it could be found on 
earth ? Chamfort said it was difficult to 
find happiness in ourselves, and impossi- 
ble elsewhere. Schopenhauer, the phi- 
losopher who has seen the world, wrote 
that it consisted in undisturbed leisure 



206 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

and great intellect, with freedom from 
pain and boredom. To Aristotle happi- 
ness consisted in leisure. I am quite 
content if I can enter merely the peri- 
style of the Temple of Felicity, through 
the opportunities for travel, equanimity of 
temper, the possession of liberty, compe- 
tence, health, education, the friendship 
of a few equals, and the power to borrow 
no trouble and to disdain the inevitable. 
Moral philosophers will say that I am 
worldly ; that not wealth, or health, or 
travel is the basis of happiness ; that ani- 
mal sensations should be divorced from 
the pleasures of the soul, which, alone, 
in its peace and harmony, can give men 
blessedness ; that happiness is the glo- 
rious triumph of mind over matter, and 
that the primary step to mundane beati- 
tude is the control of the appetites and 
passions. 

But I cannot live at such an elevation; 
its rarefied air would stifle me, and I fear 



INCIDENTS EN VOYAGE. 20/ 

it might stop the breath even of my gen- 
tle reader. Life would not be worth 
living without our small vices, and the 
love of sight-seeing is a universal one. 

Socrates praised leisure as the fairest 
of all possessions. Yet, with this do no- 
thing there comes a serious obstacle to 
happiness. " It is so difficult to keep quiet 
when one has nothing to do. " The result 
is that you begin to travel in quest of 
keen pleasures, and, instead, you find but 
mild amusements after much labor, some- 
times amounting to hardship. Upon re- 
turning home you begin to think it were 
preferable not to have gone. Having en- 
joyed better things than your own coun- 
try affords, it becomes difficult to relish 
existence there again for a prolonged pe- 
riod. You have acquired tastes which 
cannot be gratified simultaneously any- 
where. You feel blase, almost disgusted 
with life itself. Work, the universal 
panacea, is inefficacious against your mel- 



208 OBSERVATIONS OF A TRAVELER. 

ancholy. Then you conclude it v/as folly 
that impelled you far from your birth- 
place in quest of ephemeral pleasures 
which were to be accompanied by so 
many regrets. After frequent incon- 
veniences and dangers you go back to 
your former companions and haunts dis- 
illusioned and discontented, though wiser. 
The reminiscences of the pleasant mo- 
ments you have passed among strange 
things and men at times delight you, but 
more frequently, like sea-sickness after a 
good repast, they come to nauseate the 
stomach of your memory. 

If happiness be the true end of life, 
notwithstanding the knowledge gained, 
and the pleasure felt in traveling, you de- 
cide it were better not to have left your 
native land. 

THE END. 



ELLA WHEELER WILCOX'S PREFACE TO 
THE FIRST EDITION OF "OBSER- 
VATIONS OF A MUSICIAN," BY 
LOUIS LOMBARD. 



Louis Lombard is the great grandson 
of a French Roman Cathohc Bishop, who 
married during the revolution of 1793 in 
order to escape the guillotine. His ma- 
ternal ancestors were an influential Ital- 
ian family. 

He was born in Lyons, France, Dec. 
15, 1 86 1. At the age of ten he was ad- 
mitted to the classes of violin, solfeggio, 
and harmony in the National Conserva- 
tory of Music of Marseilles. A concert 
tour of two years was the occasion of his 
first visit to America, after which he re- 
turned to Paris to prosecute his studies. 
Returning to this country, he became 
identified with our musical interests. 



The public at this time caught a ghmpse 
of his composition in the music of a comic 
opera. 

In 1887 he again went abroad, travel- 
ing through Europe, Asia, and Africa, 
his proficiency in six languages enabling 
him to secure most interesting and valu- 
able information, which he utilized in the 
leading magazines of the country. 

Upon his return, a desire for practical 
insight into the management of business 
affairs led him to enter the Columbia Law 
School of New York. Uniting this ex- 
perience with that which his well-directed 
life had given him, he, in 1889, opened 
the Conservatory of Music in Utica, New 
York, with a strong financial guarantee 
from one hundred prominent citizens of 
the place, six professors, and one hun- 
dred and ninety-six students. To-day, 
that institution, modeled closely after the 
Paris Conservatory, is second to none in 
the United States, in all that goes to 
make the genuine musician. It has a 
faculty of fifteen of the ablest European 



and American teachers, and four hundred 
pupils in attendance from all parts of the 
States and Canada. 

It is difficult to imagine how so much 
talent, knowledge, energy, executive abil- 
ity, and soul, can be encompassed in so 
small a body. Louis Lombard, though 
well-proportioned, is but five feet one 
inch in height. The elegance of his 
manner, combined with those other talents 
rarely found in one so devoted to art, have 
won him many friends and a bountiful 
success, which has not yet reached half 
its fulness. Last summer he was unani- 
mously elected chairman of the executive 
com.mittee of the Music Teachers' National 
Association. 

Louis Lombard is now recognised not 
only as an educator, conductor, violinist, 
composer, critic, but also as a writer of 
rare ability, having a peculiar talent of 
securing an involuntary following of a 
true and pure classical standard, through 
a modern attractiveness that is irresistible. 

A better illustration of this cannot be 



given than by referring to his articles 
recently published in New York mag- 
azines. 

In commending this volume upon musi- 
cal topics, I am but doing the cause of 
music, no less than its distinguished rep- 
resentative, simple justice. I do it most 
sincerely. 




Neiv York, March 15, 1893. 



Read 



OBSERVATIONS 

OF A 

^^,^_.MUSIC1AN. 

BY 

LOUIS LOMBARD. 



S^coi^d Editiox), ^^Ugn^ei^ted, 



*** IVi'll be sent, bound in cloth, postpaid, upon 
receipt of ^o cents in stamps, money-order, or cur- 
rency. Address, 

Utica Conservatory of Music, 

UTICA, N. Y. 



UNSOLICITED LETTERS. 

Taken from Among Hundreds of Flattering Com- 
munications Written by Eminent Men and 
Women in Relation to the 
KIRST EDIXION OR 

Observations of a Musician. 

BY LOUIS LOA\BARD. 



Carl Faelten, Director, New England Con- 
servatory of Mu.sic : Boston, March 25, '93. — I 
have read your " Observations " with great inter- 
est, and I find, especially your various essays on 
musical education, most excellently written. I 
am always happy to find one more who has the 
courage to express his opinion whether people 
may like it or not. 

Rose Elizabeth Cleveland: "The Weeds," 
Holland Patent, N. Y., Aug. 5, '93. — Your charm- 
ing and valuable booklet has enough good reading 
in it for a much larger work. However, it is 
wiser to condense as you have. 

Frances F. Cleveland : Executive Mansion, 
Washington, March 23, '93. — " Observations of a 
Musician " will be carefully preserved. 

W. S. B. Mathews, Composer, Critic, Writer, 
and Editor of " Music:" Chicago, March 24, '93. 
— I would like to reprint some of the essays from 
your charming little book, say that on Spanish 



Music. You have done these things extremely- 
well. Your style and matter are both so elegant 
and so sensible withal, that it is a great pleasure to 
read them. I think an essay in "Music " now and 
then would forward your recognition in the coun- 
try at large as a writer of rare powers. 

The Rev. Oren Root, Professor of Mathemat- 
ics, Hamilton College: Clinton, N. Y., April 12, 
93, — The "Observations of a Musician " have a 
deal of most admirable sense and most practical 
sentiment. My experience as a teacher, running 
over five and thirty years, indorses your sugges 
tions, and my observations as a clergyman em- 
phasize them again. 

Peter Rudolph Neff, President, College of 
Music : Cincinnati, April 14, '93. — I have read 
the " Observations ' ' with much interest. Judicious 
views, the result of unusual opportunities for ob- 
servation, clothed in charming diction, and the 
book is one of the few which few hold the atten- 
tion of the reader until he reaches "The end." 

Everett Smith, Mayor of Schenectady, N. Y.: 
March 30, '93. — The thoughts contained in "Ob- 
servations of a Musician " appeal strongly to one's 
good sense. It is a work which should be a text- 
book, and I sincerely hope that you may permit 
more than the one edition to be issued. 

F. Toledo, Artistic Director, the ^olian Organ 
Co.: New York, Nov, 2, '93. — In your 114 pages 
you say more than others do in hundreds and hun- 
dreds. 



The Rev. Clarence E. Rice, School Director: 
Tokio, Japan, April 25, '93. — I am impressed with 
the feeling that your book is practical and deals 
with problems from a side that musicians have not 
generally the talent to present. The book will do 
good. 

G. B. Polleri, one of the leading Musical Com- 
posers in Italy: Genoa, Italy, April 6, '93. — I 
have read the " Observations " with great pleas- 
ure. They are exquisite in substance and form. 
It is a style which can be read only with pleasure ; 
it is one that invites the reader. How many truths 
in your book ! and not alone applicable to America, 
but to all countries. 

I. V. Flagler, the Chautauqua Lecturer and 
Organist: Auburn, N. Y., March 28, '93. — It is 
both entertaining and instructive, and should be 
read, not only by every musician and musical 
student, but by every one. Its sale should not be 
limited to 1,000, but should exceed 1,000,000. 

Ed. Schuberth, the prominent Musical Pub- 
lisher: New York City, March 24, '93. — A very 
interesting book. 

Mrs. F. M. Lathrop : New York city, March 
27, '93. — The little book is attractive and will, I 
think, do some good work in the field for which it 
has been created. It is a little missionary sent out 
with no parade of society, but it will find its way 
quite as well into all the nooks and crannies of 
heathendom. 

Senator H. J. Coggeshall: Albany, N. Y., 
April 3. '93. — I prize the book highly. 



Charles Dancla, Knight of the Legion of 
Honor, and Professor at the Conservatory : Paris, 
France, April 29, '93. — You, who speak all 
languages, you will read more easily the little 
book I send you, than I could read yours, which 
was translated to me by one who understands 
English. Your book has interested me greatly. 

Paul Roche, Professor at the Conservatory : 
Marseilles, France, April 11, '93. — In this interest- 
ing book you have displayed a talent as litterateur 
which I did not know you possessed. Bravo ! 
That is a splendid work, I was agreeably sur- 
prised. Your travels have borne fruit. 

Federigo Bargile, Canon of the Cathedral : 
Fiesole, Italy, April 23, '93. -After reading your book 
over and over, I take pleasure in telling you that 
I regard it as a work full of sense, of just musical 
criticisms, and rich and sound judgment regarding 
music everywhere. It is written in an unaffected 
style, and it is very readable. I congratulate you. 
I confess it is an additional proof of your great 
talent for the beautiful art which you profess, and 
of the fine genius with which nature has so courte- 
ously endowed you. 

Fannie Edgar Thomas, the well known Critic 
and Writer: New York, May 2, '93. — I am truly 
delighted with your charming little book, holding, 
packed, so manv gems of musical truth. How 
true that it was the echo of my thought on each 
topic. Not alone that, but the truths are stated in 
a manner to compel the conviction of every reader, 
whether a thinker or not. And that is why I feel 



so relieved after reading the book. I had an idea 
of culling some of the fat epigrams as mottoes for 
my articles, but would feel obliged to take the 
thing entire. So many of the ideas have been 
partially or clumsily expressed in my hearing, that 
I should imagine the book would have a large 
reading amongst thinking musicians. I have read 
over and over again your "Music for the People," 
first with the gluttonous curiosity I always feel as 
to what point you will make, and again to enjoy 
seeing how you do that. To one who knows your 
mind, it is even more masterful, than to the mind 
uneducated in your art of thought. It is so subtly 
simple, logical, to the very door of conviction, 
airily popular in its over-current, and rigorously 
musical in its under-current. Good art that ! 

Mrs. J. Maury Patten: . Washington, D. C, 
Oct. 15, '93. — While spending an evening with 

Mrs. , I chanced upon your "Observations 

of a Musician," and was so pleased with the book 
that upon my return home I bought a copy. I 
thank you for having put into print such delight- 
ful essays, and ones of such usefulness to the real 
earnest student and a lover of music. 

ZfeLiE DE LussAN, the celebrated Prima-Donna: 
London, England, Aug. 6, '93. — I have read your 
charming little book, and I thank you a thousand 
times. I need not tell you that I find it admirably 
written ; in a word, as we say in English, "It is to 
the point." Let us hope that it will not be the 
last. 



Alexandre Guilmant, the greatest living Organ- 
ist and Composer of Music for the Organ : Paris, 
France, October, '93. I have just read your mag- 
nificent article, and I do not know how to thank 
you. I have rarely read the appreciation of an 
artist written so well and with so just and exalted 
a sentiment in musical art. I have met many per- 
sons who admire your writings, and the Reverend 
Father Barry has read an extract from your pen 
to-day from the pulpit. Thanks, then, thousand 
and thousand times, and believe in my affection- 
ate sentiments. 

Count OF Douville-Maillefeu, Depute: Paris, 
France, May i, '93. — You write remarkably well. 

Dudley Buck, the best American Composer : 
Brooklyn, N. Y., October, '93. — You have a facile 
pen. I like your writings. 



EDITORIAL NOTICES 

of the 

FIRST EDITION OF 

OBSERVATIONS OF A MUSICIAN. 

By LOUIS LOMBARD. 



London and New York Review of Reviews, 
Ms-y? '93 '■ Lombard's brief essays upon varied top- 
ics in the musical domain are most intelligent, 
pointed and up to date. 

Chicago Times, July 15, '93 : Written by one 
who is thoroughly familiar with all of which he 
speaks. The range of the essays is considerable, 
including criticism of music and musicians in 
many different countries. The criticisms are in- 
telligent, fair and interesting. The author is 
already known in musical and other circles as a 
man of great talent, and this modest volume will 
indicate abilities in yet another direction. 

Amsterdam {N. Y.) Democrat, March 20, '93 : 
A series of bright, practical essays by Louis Lom- 
bard, the well-known educator, conductor, violin- 
ist, composer, critic and writer, the founder of the 
Utica Conservatory of Music. Full of valuable 
suggestions, especiall}'- to the young student, while 
the cultured musician will find much that is enter- 
taining and helpful. Mr. Lombard is not only a 
thorough musician, but a keen critic, and his writ- 
ings have always been sought for by the leading 
magazines. The preface is by Ella Wheeler WiL 



cox, who pays a graceful and deserved tribute to 
the writer. There is no doubt of the success of the 
work, and it is safe to predict a second edition in 
the near future. 

Rochester i^N. F.) Herald, March 20, '93 : A 
neat and valuable book. The " Observations " are 
of special value to musical students, but anybody- 
can peruse them with entertainment and profit. 
Though a first-class artist, Louis Lombard is that 
rarety among artists, a practical man, and his ad- 
vice and every-day philosophy are full of sugges- 
tion of merit. Ke has been an extensive traveler, 
and some of the chapters communicate the results 
of his observations abroad. Mr. Lombard is 
thoroughly imbued with American ideas, which 
he happily applies in his efforts to cultivate his art 
among the growing generation. His little volume 
is a gem in its way. 

Utzca{N. Y.) Herald, March 18, '93 : A charming 
book from the pen of Louis Lombard, the versatile 
director of the Utica Conservatory. The preface 
is by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who writes apprecia- 
tively of Mr. Lombard's talents and accomplish- 
ments. Of the Conservatory founded by him, she 
says : " Modeled closely after the Paris Conserva- 
tory, it is second to none in the U. S. in all that 
goes to make the genuine musician," The essays 
are eminently practical in their suggestiveness, and 
the bright style in which they are written of itself 
constitutes a charm. The cultured musician and 
the young student will both find them helpful and 
entertaining, while they will be of interest to all 
readers. 



Chicago Music Review, Nov. '93 : Musicians do 
now and then think, even in the popular definition 
of intellectual thought. Such a musician is Mr. 
Louis I^ombard. The observations on ' ' Why 
girls should play the Violin," and " Use and abuse 
of the Piano," are so good that I quote them en- 
tire. As an educationally suggestive little work 
it is to be commended to mothers especially, and 
also to students and teachers. 

Roine {N. Y.) Sentinel, March 20, '93 : An at- 
tractive volume which treats of much that enter- 
tains as well as instructs. Cannot fail to be inter- 
esting and valuable to a large class of people, and 
its success seems assured. 

Saturday Globe, March 18, '93 : Most interest- 
ing and instructive ; promises to become a stand- 
ard work on the subject of which it treats. 

Utica (TV. F.) Press, March 18, '93 : A very at- 
tractive book, interesting as w^ell as instructive ; 
will doubtless prove both valuable and popular and 
a large sale is predicted. The essays are well writ- 
ten and contain many suggestions of worth. 

Albany {N. Y.) Sunday Press, March 19, '93 : 
A compact, interesting, and instructive volume, 
useful alike to amateurs and professional musi- 
cians. 

Chicago Presto, March 18, '93: While the work 
is of intense interest to the musical profession, it 
will also pay for a careful perusal by the general 
public. 

Utica {N. Y.) Observer, March 22, '93 : There 
are musicians and musicians, and the observations 
of one may obviously have greater value and in- 



terfest than those of another. These are the utter- 
ances of the witty and original Prof. Louis Lom- 
bard, the head of the Utica Conservatory of Music. 
This makes a difference — a distinct difference when 
it is stated — in the way in which the ' ' Observa- 
tions " will be regarded. The volume takes hold 
on public interest here and wherever else he is 
known. Gifted as a musician and successful as a 
linguist, he is almost as remarkable as a writer. 
It is a book that will be prized, and will be taken 
up many times. 

Bmghamton {N. Y.) Democrat, March 20, '93 : 
Replete with information of the art divine, from 
Jubal's time down. 

Utica {N. Y.) Sunday Tribune, March 19, '93 : 
One of the neatest little books. It consists of 
twenty-four essays on musical subjects, which are 
treated in Mr. Lombard's usual vigorous style. 

Schenectady {N.Y.) Union, March 21, '93: Very 
readable and useful. 

L'jEco d' Italia, of Nev/ York, March 23, '93 : 
Un interessante libro. Vi sono in queste " Obser- 
vations," capitoli molto interessanti e gli studii 
musicali sono trattati da un punto di vista nuovo 
ed originale. La esposizione e chiara e la dottrina 
molta. 

New York Recorder, March 25, '93 : Should in- 
terest artists. 

Syrac2ise {N. Y.) Sunday Tiities, March 26, '93 : 
Twenty -four chapters, tersely and ably penned, 
and covering a wide swath of musical culture. 
They are the honest [observations of an accom- 
plished musician whof does^not hesitate to tell the 



truth fearlessly. To the earnest student and un- 
preJLidiced teacher, Mr. Lombard's book will be a 
treasure. 

Syracuse {N. Y.) News, March 27, '93 : Cleverly- 
written. Mr. Lombard tells many plain truths in 
a straightforward and practical manner. The book 
will be perused with interest. 

Binghamton (TV. F.) Leader, March 22, '93 : 
An entertaining and instructive brochure, not only 
interesting but valuable for the many useful sug- 
gestions it offers. It contains a wide range of top- 
ics within the scope of the musical art. 

Morgen Journal of New York, March 26, '93 : 
Eine Anzahl geistreicher und sachverstandiger 
Aufsatze. 

Buffalo {N. F.) Courier, March 26, '93 : Mr. 
Lombard, during his residence in America, has 
devoted himself to the spread of sound musical 
doctrines, and he now stands at the head of one 
of the largest conservatories in this country. He 
believed in a principle, and upon the basis of this 
belief he has worked persistently with the results 
recorded above. During a period of ten or more 
years he has written much for print and his arti- 
cles have always commanded the attention and re- 
spect of the musical fraternity. His book contains 
excellent advice and much information, told in a 
readable manner. The chapters have su.ch attrac- 
tive headings that the musician is beguiled into 
reading their substance even against his intention. 
For instance his chapter on "Music for the Peo- 
ple " is full of suggestive ideas and hints to all. 
He has ver^^ interesting chapters on "Music in 
Political Economy," and on "National Songs," 



and those are followed by a chapter which every 
parefit in Buffalo would do well to read. It is en- 
titled, "Train Musicians Early." Mr. Lombard 
has performed a good service in issuing his book. 
It will be read by many people who never read a 
musical publication, because they claim that they 
are not musical. 

Brooklyn {N. Y.) Standard- U?tzon, March 26, 
'93 : A collection of essays in musical matters by 
Louis Lombard, who is a recognized authority on 
this subject. Ella Wheeler Wilcox says that in 
commending this volume she is but doing the cause 
of music, no less than its distinguished representa- 
tive, simple justice, and the reader will agree with 
her. 

Buffalo {N. Y.) Express, April 2, '93 : Mr. Lom- 
bard is an energetic, pushing man, and writes as 
if neither he nor his readers had much time to 
spare. Most of his chapters contain emphatic 
statements of healthy and generally accepted 
views. 

Rochester {N. Y.) Post-Express, April 8, '93 : 
Of decided interest to music lovers. 

Biffalo {N. Y.) Review, April S, '93 : Read 
Lombard's " Observations of a Musician," if you 
want to spend a profitable and interesting hour. 
He can say much more in fewer words than any 
man, big or little, in the profession. 

Bosto7i Home Journal, April 8, '93: A writer of 
fine ability. His essays cover a wide range of sub- 
jects connected with music, and display a cultured 
and practical mind. Students of music especially, 
will find the book a bright, interesting and helpful 
companion. 



Little Rock {Ark.) Democrat, April 8, '93 : Very- 
suitable to the busy man who does not want to 
wade through fifty pages to get an idea which 
might be expressed in a few lines. 

New York Telegram, April 15, '93: Full of in- 
terest and helpfulness ; chapters which parents will 
do well to consider. 

Philadelphia Etude, April, '93 : A valuable vol- 
ume by a musical writer of acknowledged ability. 
It is worthy of a place in every musical library. 

New York Musical Courier, March 29, '93 : 
What the Lord did for Mr. Louis Lombard, who 
weighs only ninety-four pounds, he has done for 
his dainty little volume. Much has certainly been 
put in little in both cases. The book is packed 
with musical truths. A law should be passed com- 
pelling "the masses " to read every word of it, in 
the interest of musical progress. How a foreigner 
could express so much in such terse yet elegant 
English is a conundrum to the connoisseur." 

Addison F. Andrews, in the New York Musical 
Courier, March 29, '93 : Lombard's ability as an 
original thinker and writer is readily apparent. 
The fact that he is proficient in six languages 
causes one to admire all the more his scholarly 
English. 

Auburn {N. Y.) Bulletin, A^vil 15, '93: The 
gifted author has set forth his ideas in well- written 
essays. The volume will be read and appreciated 
by musicians, coming as it does from the pen of a 
genius. 

New York Home Journal, April 19, '93: In 
"Observations of a Musician," Louis Lombard, 
the well-known teacher, conductor, composer and 



critic, discusses music in some of its popular 
phases, and makes some valuable suggestions for 
cultivating a taste for it among the people, and as 
to the best methods of instruction in its science 
and technique. 

Logansport {Ind.) Home Music Journal, April, 
'93 : Interesting observations and facts. The 
book is from Mr. Lombard's gifted pen, and is 
worth a careful reading. 

Kingston (iV. K) Daily Tribune, April 27, '93 : 
A neat volume which shows great grace of compo- 
sition and considerable critical ability. 

New York American Bookseller, May 20, '93 : 
Prof. Lombard gives a variety of entertaining 
and sensible reading, well worth the time and at- 
tention of intending pupils and their guardians. 

New York Eve?iing Post, May 27, '93 : The 
essays are light without being in the nature of 
chaff. They are twenty-four plain, short, com- 
mon-sense five-minute talks on musical topics. 
The advice given is usually sound and the style 
entertaining. 

New York Tribune, June 8, '93 : Louis Lom- 
bard gossips on a variety of musical topics in a 
generally agreeable and sensible manner. 

The Critic, New York, May 27, '93 : Mr. Lom- 
bard displays the usual warmth of the musical 
temperament in his utterances, and, while his ob- 
servations are the result of absorbing devotion to 
his art and earnest thought about it, they are not 
always couched in judicial language. 

Christian Herald, New York, May 31, '93 : 
A compact volume, containing a wide range of ex- 
pert information. 



